Nicor should create detour for closed path

Nicor has closed a section of the Batavia Spur of the Illinois Prairie Path. The path was closed by Nicor for the convenience of a contractor that is doing maintenance work near Nicor’s Eola gas metering station.

The closed section is from the beginning of the Batavia Spur where it connects to the Aurora Branch and runs west for 1.7 miles to the Eola Road tollway interchange. The Batavia Spur is the section of the path that runs from Naperville to Batavia and connects the IPP to the Fox River Trail. A chain-link fence has been erected across the path with a sign that indicates the path is closed and no detour is provided. The path will be closed all summer and into the fall.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The Illinois Tollway, an organization we all love to hate, did an excellent job of providing a detour for the Path when they constructed their new Eola interchange. This work was done on the Batavia Spur just west of where Nicor is doing their work. Tollway officials posted detour signs, set up a bike lane along Bilter Road and protected it with Jersey barriers. Kudos to the Tollway.

The Batavia Spur is actually a DuPage County Highway, designated Route 49. If you would like to help encourage Nicor to provide a detour, contact the DuPage County Division of Transportation at dot@dupageco.org.

I suspect that Nicor will be happy to create a detour when the problem is pointed out to them because virtually everyone who is inconvenienced by this closure is a Nicor customer.

Rich Cullen

Naperville