The St Clair County Transit District approved the design and construction of the St. Ellen Park Trail at its March 16 Board of Trustees meeting. The project will consist of a 10 foot wide paved path beginning at Old Collinsville Road to St. Ellen Park. St. Ellen Park is a 200 acre St. Clair County Park which was formerly abandoned coal strip mine reclaimed by county efforts. The Park features walking trails, fishing and picnic pavilions.
The St. Ellen Park Trail will connect Hartman Lane in O’ Fallon to Old Collinsville Road in Fairview Heights. The trail will be about a mile in length and eventually connect with the Old Collinsville Road bike trail system currently under design by TWM, Inc. This trail will provide greater access to St. Ellen Park, Joseph Arthur Middle School, and hundreds of nearby households. This St. Ellen Park Trail was the result of a partnership with Caseyville Township leaders. Caseyville Township officials provided a no cost right-a-way easement necessary for St. Clair County Transit District (SCCTD) to construct the trail.
Ken Sharkey, SCCTD Managing Director stated, “This new trail meets many of the needs by connecting parks, schools and residential neighborhoods. Our leadership thanks our local officials at Caseyville Township for working with SCCTD to provide this support quality of life amenity.”
The first section of the MetroBikeLink System opened in 2002 and was comprised of a four-mile trail, running from Southwestern Illinois College to the Swansea MetroLink Station. Since then, the system has expanded to include the Memorial Section, Fairview Heights sections, Orchard Loop Trail Phases I and II and the Shiloh Scott sections, Englemann Park Connector – which all connect back to the original trail. Currently, the MetroBikeLink System runs from the Shiloh-Scott Metro Station to the Fairview Heights Metro Station, providing access to six MetroLink stations and four different communities. Phases I and II of the Old Collinsville Road Trail, featuring approximately 1.7 miles of trail, are expected to be opened in 2022.