Galena River Trail Phase III | Projects Origin Design

Adding outdoor amenities continues to be a priority for the City of Galena.

They envisioned a southerly expansion of their existing trail system along the Galena River south of the city for their community members to enjoy. The opportunity to expand the trail came when funding was obtained allowing the construction of a 3.8-mile section, including a portion in rugged terrain that required structure crossings of ravines.

project overview

With an active railroad located adjacent to the Galena River, a separation distance was required from the trail resulting in trail placement mid-way along a hillside. The goal was to create an ADA-compliant 10’ wide granular trail.

During the design of the project, bedrock was anticipated to be relatively close to the existing ground surface which restricted construction options. The proposed design included benching the trail into the hillside, including a retaining wall and elevated pedestrian structures supported on piers bedded in the rock at locations where a space for a trail could not be graded without encroachment onto railroad property. The design had several iterations to be right sized to match the available funding.

When grading was performed, the rock was not as close to the surface as anticipated. This presented the opportunity to revise the wall design and reduce the amount of elevated structures. Origin Design worked with the City of Galena and the Illinois DOT to allow the revised (and less expensive) construction to occur.

The project was made possible by federal transportation enhancement funds managed by the Illinois Department of Transportation. Origin Design worked with the City of Galena to meet all requirements associated with the funding, including environmental clearances and appropriate bid documents.

Origin Design provided land survey, engineering and assistance during construction.

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