Morris receives $220,000 grant for research on trail, bike paths and downtown parking

The City of Morris has received a $220,000 grant from the State of Illinois that will allow the city to conduct research on putting walking trails and bike paths in the city, as well as create a downtown parking plan.

Mayor Chris Brown announced the grant, which does not have a required match, during the Monday City Council meeting.

“One of the things we talked about when we did the parks plan a couple of years ago is we wanted to do a bike and trail path throughout the city, combining all the different parks into the canal, into the river and into the area that people want to go like schools,” Brown said. “This helps us get another piece to our bigger plan of looking at parks and bike paths and making things safer for kids and everyone else that want to travel across town.”

Brown said this, combined with the intergovernmental grant Morris received along with Channahon and Minooka for a traffic study on East Route 6, means another $550,000 in grant funding the city has received.