City Seeks Bids for Bloomingdale Park, Trail

The Chicago Department of Transportation and the Department of Procurement Services announced Wednesday that the City is seeking bids for the construction of the long-anticipated Bloomingdale Park and Trail, with the plan to break ground this summer.

“The Bloomingdale Park and Trail will be one the most distinct and user-friendly open spaces to be developed anywhere in the country,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, in a news release. “I am pleased that this project continues to make progress, and I look forward to the start of construction this summer.”

Planned for the top of an abandoned, 2.7-mile railroad viaduct between Ashland and Ridgeway avenues, the $91 million linear park will be managed by the Chicago Park District through a $1 lease with the city of Chicago, which recently acquired the viaduct from the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The construction contract includes the rehabilitation of the viaducts and retaining walls, as well as removing the railroad tracks and converting the railway to a multi-use path. CDOT will oversee the construction of the linear park, which will be open to visitors by the end of 2014.

READ: Council Green Lights Long-Awaited Bloomingdale Trail

Construction bids will be accepted by DPS until May 30 at 11 a.m. The City will award the contract to the qualified bidder with the lowest responsive bid.  A pre-bid informational conference for prospective bidders is scheduled for May 14 at 1 p.m. in the DPS Bid & Bond Room, Room 301 of City Hall.

Planned for the top of an abandoned, 2.7-mile Canadian Pacific Railway viaduct between Ashland and Ridgeway Avenues, the linear park will be managed by the Chicago Park District.  CDOT will maintain the viaduct’s walls and bridges and the Park District will maintain the trail and 13 acres of open space planned for the top.

The century-old viaduct, which runs adjacent to Bloomingdale Avenue, ceased to be used for regularly scheduled rail operations in 2001. Its redevelopment as a linear park and trail will build on the City’s legacy for innovative open spaces by linking four ethnically and economically diverse Chicago communities—Wicker Park, Bucktown, Humboldt Park and Logan Square—and five neighborhood parks.

Approximately half of the Bloomingdale’s projected development cost is being financed through federal highway and transportation grant funding.

The remainder is being raised through a partnership between the city, the park district, and the trust for public land, the nation’s leading organization focused on creating parks and preserving land, which is serving as project manager.

Follow us on Facebook: Lincoln Park / Lake View / Lincoln Square / Bucktown-Wicker Park /North Center-Roscoe Village