While a safer, multi-use pedestrian and bicycle pathway along Cannonball Trail in Yorkville is starting to come together, it’s completion will still be a long and winding road.

The city conducted a $20,000 feasibility study following several residents contacting city officials voicing safety concerns, especially after a serious bicycling incident occurred in the area.

The goal is to provide a safe connecting path from U.S. Route 34 out to Illinois Route 47. There are several options to draw up a pathway, with price tags ranging from $669,000 to $1,025,000.

The path would stretch more than a mile. It would also connect the Kendall Marketplace to Route 47.

Four plan designs are being mulled over by city staff. The city may decide to apply for grant funding through the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP). The city previously received a $3 million ITEP grant to facilitate safer transportation in the downtown Hydraulic District.

If grant funding is pursued by the city, the earliest construction on the pathway along Cannonball Trail would be 2030.

There currently is an existing bicycle path on Cannonball Trail from Route 34 to Blackberry Shore Lane. City staff want to connect to it with a 10-foot wide shared-use path.

The four plan designs being considered include installation on the western edge, constructing paths along the opposite side, a combination of both, and a route through Whispering Meadows.

The price ranges stem from the intensiveness of construction, the needed right-of-way acquisition, utility conflicts, excavation costs, tree removal, and restoration costs.

The public works committee discussed the pros and cons of each of the four options.

The cheapest option, $669,000, installs the path on the north side from Blackberry Shore Lane to Alice Avenue, using Alice Avenue and Faxon Road as on-street bike lanes. The option is cheaper because it is not a direct pathway from Route 47 to Route 31. This option also does not provide a connection to Amanda Lane and Patricia Lane.

Another option, $766,000, is the cheapest option running along the length of Cannonball Trail. This option does provide a pathway connection to Amanda Lane and Patricia Lane.

A third option, $795,000, provides a direct connection to Route 34 and Route 47, but no direct connection to Amanda Lane and Patricia Lane.

While discussing the options recommended by the feasibility study, the public works committee said the option they ultimately pursue may depend on what grant funding can be procured.

In 2012, the city did a successful referendum for a bicycle path bond of about $8 million to connect every subdivision in town that wasn’t already connected to Route 47 with additional bicycle pathways.

With the city’s new construction and subdivisions, several locations throughout the city, especially along its outer limits, currently are not connected to the overall bicycle pathway system.

Route 47 is currently undergoing a massive widening and expansion construction project.

As part of the Route 47 expansion, a new multi-use bicycle and pedestrian lane is being constructed on bridges along Route 47, with a pedestrian connector running along the east side of the roadway.

City officials foresee all pedestrian pathways connecting the subdivisions together. They said this will enhance transportation ease and safety all the way into the town’s downtown district along the Fox River.