BELLEVILLE – St. Clair County Transit District (SCCTD) today announced it has approved $359,985 for engineering for the Tecklenburg Trail Connector in Belleville. This proposed 1.1-mile bike and pedestrian pathway will extend from Main Street and 66th Street to Dutch Hollow and Llewellyn roads, connecting residents in the West Belleville area to 14 continues miles of trails in Southwestern Illinois known as the MetroBikeLink System.
The design phase will take approximately 12 months and will include surveying boundaries and topography, designing the trail and a long pedestrian bridge over IL Route 161, geotechnical boring/reporting and permitting. The trail will be a scenic addition to the trail system, as it is planned to transverse through wooded/remote areas. The trail will feature a 1,000-foot long bridge over IL Route 161 and Schoenberger Creek.
“St. Clair County Transit District is actively working to continue to expand the reach of its MetroBikeLink System,” said Herb Simmons, Chair of St. Clair County Transit District’s Board of Trustees. “This new trail will play a key role in connecting the West Belleville area to a community amenity designed to enable users to integrate biking, walking, running, skating and wheeling with public transportation – not only for enjoyment – but to help get residents where they want to go.”
The first section of the MetroBikeLink System opened in 2002 and was comprised of a four-mile trail, extending from Southwestern Illinois College to the Swansea MetroLink Station. Since then, the system has expanded to include the Memorial, Fairview Heights, and Shiloh Scott sections for a total of 14 miles of trail adjacent to the MetroLink light rail tracks. Additional trails have been built by SCCTD to connect to this main artery including SCCTD Orchard Loop Trail Phases I and II, the Englemann Park Connector, and the Old Collinsville Road Trail (currently under construction) for another 8 miles of SCCTD connected trails. This, along with the connecting trails from other municipalities, combine to provide a total of 30 miles of connected trails in St. Clair County.
To learn more about the MetroBikeLink System and St. Clair County Transit District, visit www.scctd.org.
About St. Clair County Transit District
Founded in 1981, St. Clair County Transit District oversees 11 MetroLink stations and 18 bus routes in St. Clair County, Ill. If commuters have questions about service, they can call (618) 628-8090 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, visit www.scctd.org.
