– The Rock Island Greenway continues to grow within the city of Peoria.
On Tuesday, the Peoria City Council approved spending $622,787 towards a $1.55 million project that has been kicking around for more than three decades. The move will extend the trail a bit more than a mile from Harvard Avenue to Park Avenue, connecting to an existing trail within Glen Oak Park.
It's the latest piece of progress on a project that dates back to 1984, when the city of Peoria and Peoria Heights purchased the Kellar Branch from trustees of the bankrupt Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad. Because of legal wrangling and a series of other issues, construction on the spur off the Rock Island Trail didn't begin until 2010.