Erie Lackawanna Trail is a
rail trail
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...
located in
Lake County,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
which runs along the former
Erie Lackawanna Railway
The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route" ...
. The trail begins in the city of
Hammond then passes through the towns of
Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
,
Griffith
Griffith may refer to:
People
* Griffith (name)
* Griffith (surname)
* Griffith (given name)
Places Antarctica
* Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency
* Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land
* Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land
* Griffith Rid ...
,
Schererville, and
Merrillville
Merrillville is a town in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 35,246 at the 2010 census. Merrillville is in east-central Lake County, in the Chicago metropolitan area. On January 1, 2015, Merrillville became the ...
before coming to an end in the
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
seat
Crown Point. It covers a total of .
[
]
History
The original Erie-Lackawanna right-of-way was an important freight route through Lake County; although, with the decline of railroad traffic in the United States, the line was abandoned in 1986 by Conrail
Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...
. After it was abandoned, plans were made by Hammond's Parks and Recreation Department to develop the former right-of-way into a trail system. The first portions of the Erie Lackawanna Trail were created in the mid-1990s, having been continually extended since then.[
The trail currently connects to the ]Monon Trail
The Monon Trail (known as the Monon Greenway in Carmel) is a rail trail located entirely within the state of Indiana. The Monon Railroad was a popular railroad line connecting the cities of Chicago and Indianapolis, with stops at major settlemen ...
in downtown Hammond, and the Oak Savannah Trail in Griffith. The Erie Lackawanna is in the vicinity of Pennsy Greenway
The Pennsy Greenway is a rail trail in the Chicago metropolitan area running from Lansing, Illinois to Schererville, Indiana. The trail runs on the former Penn Central Railway, and is currently incomplete, but is paved at segments in Lansing, Muns ...
in Schererville. Today, the trail is a shared use path
A shared-use path, mixed-use path or multi-use pathway is a path which is 'designed to accommodate the movement of pedestrians and cyclists'. Examples of shared-use paths include sidewalks designated as shared-use, bridleways and rail trails. A ...
, complete with trailheads, park amenities, and local attractions near it.[ It is currently the longest contiguous trail in ]Northwest Indiana
Northwest Indiana, nicknamed The Region after the Calumet Region, comprises Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana. This region neighbors Lake Michigan and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. According to the 2020 Ce ...
.
Visitor attractions along the trail
* Hammond Civic Center
Hammond Civic Center is a 4,500-seat multi-purpose arena located in Hammond, Indiana. The arena opened in 1938. It is well known for hosting various local concerts, and sporting events such WWE Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, mixed martial arts fig ...
* Indiana Visitors' Center
* Wicker Memorial Park[
* Griffith Historical Park & Railroad Museum
* Ivan Gatlin Nature Preserve]
See also
* Cycling in Chicago
Since the advent of the bicycle in the 1860s, Chicago has been distinguished as one of the premier cycling locations in the United States, with such public cycling destinations as Grant Park, Burnham Park and the Chicago Park District's Lakefr ...
* American Discovery Trail
The American Discovery Trail is a system of recreational trails and roads that collectively form a coast-to-coast hiking and biking trail across the mid-tier of the United States. Horses can also be ridden on most of this trail. The coastal tra ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Bicycling in Chicago
Rail trails in Indiana
Bike paths in the Chicago metropolitan area
Protected areas of Lake County, Indiana
Transportation in Lake County, Indiana
1990s establishments in Indiana