I just rode the Paul Douglas Trail today and found that they are really doing a lot of construction on the south part of the trail that runs next to Central Road between Ela and Roselle Roads.

I have noticed a little construction in this area for a while now but they have really started making some big changes now.They have knocked down most of the willow trees that you can see  in the (before) photo.

I was curious about what was going on (of course) so I asked this construction guy that was carrying a surveyor tool along the trail. This guy was really nice, knowledgeable and took some time to explain to me what is going on.

So here is what is happening:

They are doing some major work on Central Road here, between Ela and Roselle Roads. In the process they are moving the bike trail away from Central Road temporarily (to a little north of where it is now). Once the trail is moved they will be doing the construction on Central and eventually Central will be closed down between Ela and Roselle Roads.

FYI: There will also be a westbound entrance to I90 here when the construction is complete. The guy said that it would be accessible from Central so I assume that it would also be accessible from Roselle (Yay!).

When is this happening:

Well, as I mentioned it has already started. The guy that I talked to said that the temporary bike trail will probably be in place in a few weeks (max). I don’t know exactly when Central will be shut down but he mentioned that that should happen pretty soon this year (2017). I also did not ask about a completion date.

He mentioned that the bike trail will eventually be moved from the temporary location back to running along Central Road again when all is complete. All I could think of regarding that is WHY? I would love to see the trail moved more permanently a little north and further away from Central Road. Well, it sounds like that Is the plan anyway (and I’m sure me whining about that would not make any difference :-)).

A Related Update on the Paul Douglas Trail:

There is also some good news about the PDT trail condition. The area that floods on the west side of the trail, along Huntington/Freeman have been completely dry for weeks now. Not even a puddle.

That’s it for now. Here’s a link to the old photo tour of this part of the trail from way back in 2009 when they just completed this part of the trail:

Paul Douglas Trail along Central – Before the construction

Update: 10/28/2017

Normally I would add a comment for an update but I thought that this was important enough to include in the main post.

The PDT is now closed where the road construction is going on at Central Road just east of Ela Road.

They have also NOT made the temporary detour path that the construction guy, that I talked to, said they were going to make at this location 🙁

 

Update 11/1/2017 – Weekends and Don’t believe everything you read…

One more update on the construction. First, there is now a sign at Grassy Ridge Meadow Park that says that the trail is closed going east from there. Well, being the rebel, law-breaker that I am and knowing that it is almost all woods from there to Ela Road I decided to check this out.

I could see that there was nothing going on and since I don’t ride that fast I could just stop and turn around if there was something. Well, as of today it is completely clear from the park to Ela Road just like it always has been (it’s just closed after Ela Road).  Maybe they will do something at some point but at this point that sign is totally useless.

The other thing that I just wanted to mention is that although the southern part of the trail is closed east of Ela Road, when I rode the trail on Sunday I discovered that it was open since they were not working then. So on Sundays at least (maybe the weekends) you might still be able to do the entire trail.

Update 8/19/2018 – Paul Douglas Trail Open and Ridable 

As of Saturday, 8/18/2018 the entire Paul Douglas Trail (the loop around Paul Douglas and the golf course) is all pretty much open and ridable.

The reason that I say “pretty much” open  is because the Trail Closed signs and gates are still there but you can easily ride around them.

Central Road is open again (between Ela and Roselle) but the new westbound tollway entrance is not.

The new part of the trail is great even though it is right next to the road again. When you ride east past the new section the trail old trail is not in that good of shape and pretty overgrown but totally ridable. Although the signs and gates are still there, I don’t think that they would close this down again but you never know if they have something else to complete.

As I mentioned in an earlier post (above) the flooded part of the trail (the west side along Huntington-Freeman Road) was pumped out in July and is still dry at this time.

So in Summary: The entire Paul Douglas Trail (the loop) is completely ridable again at this time!