For story, see Page 7 . 475-mile trail would be 'grand' Imagine biking along Chicago's lakefront and Illinois' Mississippi River, all in one week. It's about 475 miles round-trip. About half the journey is via off-road trails. It's not important that most people will never travel all 475 miles.
People love connecting trails up.
They just like the idea that they can do 475 miles if they want to. The region's planning body is proposing that the Grand Illinois Trail project be part of a new six-county greenways plan that includes 1,963 miles of multiuse trails. Currently, there are 433 miles in place in the six-county region. The new 20-year NIPC plan that is set to be finalized June 19 recommends more than quadrupling to 1,963 the number of miles of trails in the region's system. It's not only Grand Illinois that regional planners want funded.