The St Clair County Transit District Board of Trustees approved two contracts at its July 27 Board meeting for work to expand the MetroBikeLink system. DMS Contracting and Hank’s Excavating and Landscaping were approved through a bid-process for work on the Old Collinsville Road Phase II Trail and St. Ellen Bike Trail Connector.
“These trail investments allow SCCTD to meet the needs of connecting parks, schools and residential neighborhoods to each other and to our world-class transit system,” commented Herb Simmons, Chair for the St. Clair County Transit District Board of Trustees. “We are happy to partner with local contractors to provide this type of quality of life amenity.”
The Old Collinsville Road Trail Phase II
Phase II of the Old Collinsville road Trail consists of constructing a 1.3 mile, 10 foot, off-road paved, shared-use trail from Centennial Park Trail Connector to Munie Rd. DMS Contracting, Inc was awarded a $1,361,900 contract to complete the work. It is anticipated this project will open on November 1, 2021.
St Ellen Bike Trail Connector
The St. Ellen Bike Trail Connector will include 1 mile, 10 foot-wide, off-road paved, shared-use trail from Old Collinsville Road to Hartman Lane. The trail will also connect to the St Ellen Park. Hank’s Excavating & Landscaping, Inc was awarded a contract in the amount of $279,215.20 to complete the work. This project is anticipated to be open to the public by October 1, 2021. The extension was made possible through a partnership with the City of O’Fallon, Caseyville Township and St Clair County.
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 Belleville MetroLink Station. Since then, the system has expanded to include the Swansea MetroLink Section, Memorial Section, Fairview Heights sections, SCCTD 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 15-mile long 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.