Raceway Woods trail repairs under way

Just like many roads in the area, the former racetrack in Carpentersville's Raceway Woods Forest Preserve is getting a much-needed resurfacing.

Work is underway to clear a 20-foot-wide swath of the original 3.27-mile Meadowdale International Raceway for upgraded bike and walking trails, said Jerry Culp, director of planning and development for the Kane County Forest Preserve District.

The $260,000 project is the second phase of a five-year plan to improve the entire loop of the now-deteriorated racetrack that operated from 1958 to the late '60s. The 90-acre parcel was designated as a forest preserve in 1994.

"This is part of the master plan, to get walking trails in," Culp said. "It is a start in moving the project forward."

Material removed from the original track will serve as the base for the path, which is 10 feet wide with restored vegetation on both sides. Sections of the 50-year-old track will remain, Culp said.

Forest preserve district board member John Fahy said the restoration is an extension of the successful push two years ago to preserve the Raceway Woods Silo in the same preserve.

"We wanted to preserve the history and this is like a rebirth of the track," said Fahy, a Kane County Board member from Dundee Township.

The next phase includes connecting the main straightaway over a ravine using a 200-foot bridge recycled from another county project. Culp said a bridge near Dunham Road and Route 25, scheduled for removal as part of the Stearns Road Corridor project, will be relocated to Raceway Woods sometime next fall.