Back on Track?

A look at the push to resurrect Chicago’s abandoned Bloomingdale “L” track by Ian Everett


Photography by Darcy Keifel

Harrison Ford, Bill Murray, Robin Williams—Chicago has produced some major movie stars over the years, but few of them can boast the screen time of the L, the city’s rumbling, screeching elevated rail system that has appeared in everything from ER to Spiderman 2. Like most ageing film stars though, the L has seen better days, and some stretches of rail now lie derelict and deserted, hidden away from the movie cameras. For one such section of neglected rail, however, all is not lost, as a fresh new role is on the horizon.

In the mid 20th century the Bloomingdale Avenue rail line was a thriving freight route, transporting goods and passengers through the warehouse districts of Chicago’s north-west suburbs; but as freight began to shift from trains to trucks, use of the line dwindled. By the 1980s’ only one train a week trickled down the line, and the route was soon abandoned all together. Now locals are hoping to give the line a facelift, and bring it back into the limelight as a linear, public park, all 15 feet above street level.

photo by Darcy Keifel“This is a great piece of unused land,” says Julia Kim, executive director of the Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail—the advocacy group set up to promote the ‘recycling’ of the line. “People growing up in the neighborhood would climb up there to go running or biking, and began thinking ‘wouldn’t it be great if this was public land.’”

The nearly three mile trail, currently owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, runs east to west across four neighborhoods—Wicker Park, Bucktown, Humbolt Park, and Logan Square; and as well as the environmental and health benefits of the park, it is the prospective link between these districts that has helped the trail gain so much support. 

“Currently there’s no easy way to get between these neighborhoods,” continues Julia, “the trail would provide the missing connection between these communities, and dozens of churches, businesses and schools in the vicinity, it’s not just commuters that would benefit from this trail.

“We’re now in the process of meeting with local residents and community groups to find out how they would like to use the trail, and as well as plenty of ideas, the one frequent comment we get is, ‘I wish this was here now.’”

photo by Bobby ZachariasPotential uses of the trail have also been sought from professional architects and design students, whose ideas were put on display at the ‘Envisioning the Bloomingdale’ exhibition held in late 2007—an exhibition that could be held again this year. The proposed use of the trail for cycling or running paths, however, has led to criticism from some community groups that the trail is only being created for the use of ‘affluent Yuppies’, but with several areas of the route widening out beyond a two-rail-width, the trail could also be used for ball parks, community gardens or events.

It is this variety that sets the Bloomingdale Trail apart from similar schemes. The High Line in New York, for instance, a 1.4 mile stretch of elevated rail, is also being converted into a public park, and in Paris the elevated Promenade Plantée opened in the mid 1990’s; but the Chicago trail will be on a much larger scale than these projects.  Some estimates suggest that it will be five to seven years before it is completed and the overall cost of the project could top $25million, much of which is likely to come from federal grants and charitable donations. The public will be able to start enjoying the benefits of the park this year, however, as work will soon begin on the eight access points to the trail, which will all be public, pocket parks themselves.

Eventually the trail could even link up with paths along the Chicago River, creating a continuous route to downtown Chicago, and although this will be several years away, it is ideas such as this that is creating so much enthusiasm from the outdoor enthusiasts, artists, schools and community groups in the area.

Like a 1980’s action hero, this forgotten portion of the L is being re-imagined for a new age, and in its new role the Bloomingdale Trail promises to become one of Chicago’s brightest stars.
 

(From top down, images by Darcy Keifel & Bobby Zacharias)

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