Constitution Trail was closed Friday at 7:00 am for repaving between Lincoln St. and Sycamore St. in north Normal. By 4:00 p.m. workers were completely off the site and residents were able to enjoy a beautiful sunny 72 degree fall day in November walking and riding on the new asphalt.
The Town of Normal and the City of Bloomington began purchasing property for the Constitutional Trail system from Illinois Central Railway in 1986 after it discontinued service on its rail line. The linear park was named “Constitution Trail” in celebration of the U.S. Constitution bicentennial when the first section opened in 1987.
The Constitutional trail system now includes over 50 miles of trail and is one of the most extensive urban multiuse trails in Illinois. It is open to walkers, runners, in-line skaters, skateboarders, cyclists, wheelchair users and other non-motorized forms of transportation. The trail is routinely cited as the best park amenity in Bloomington-Normal.
The Illinois Central Branch, the main spine of the trail, can be said to begin in south Bloomington at Croxton Avenue and Indianapolis Street from whence it extends northward traveling through an industrial area where it then goes by the Beer Nuts production plant and visitors can can visit the company store of the Bloomington based product.
After crossing bridges over Emerson Street and Sugar Creek it enters Normal and passes under the historic Camelback Bridge a site on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The bridge’s distinctive shape allowed the tall stacks of wood-burning locomotives to pass under it. The wooden bridge is the oldest surviving structure associated with the rail corridor.
A couple of blocks farther north the trail passes by the Connie Link Amphitheater park. The trail continues north to Uptown where several local shops and restaurants are conveniently located nearby. The trail then runs through the newly paved section described in this story and becomes more and more rural as it approaches the north edge of Normal.
