SYCAMORE | Within the next year, bikers and walkers will be able to see Sycamore on a newly-constructed bike path.

Beginning in 2007, the city will start constructing a public bike path within the right-of-way along the east side of Peace Road. The path will extend north along Peace Road between Bethany Road and Illinois Route 64.

The right-of-way is a path over land in which the user has the legal right to pass or use the path for access and passage.

“The right-of-way is generally a roadway in the middle of land extending up to a property line. There is usually green space between bike path and highway,” said Sycamore City Manager Bill Nicklas.

DeKalb County presented an inter-governmental agreement with Sycamore last March in which it was proposed that both county government boards would work together to create the bike path. While Sycamore would be solely responsible for the construction and repairs of the bike path, the county would provide all grading necessary for the construction.

“We’re dealing with the city’s best interest in seeing the bike path on the east side of the street going past industries and town houses,” Nicklas said.

This new path will be a continuation of the Kishwaukee Kiwanis Pathway.

“It will be linked on paper [to the Great Western Trail],” Nicklas said. “You can travel to the new Peace Road bike path and through the city of Sycamore. You will continue through town to Sycamore Park on the east side of town and onto sidewalks, which will eventually take you up to the Great Western Trail.”

This new path will allow bikers to travel to different places more efficiently.

“Within the last seven years, [Sycamore has been trying to promote] extensions of the neighborhood bike paths of older parts of town with newer parts of town,” Nicklas said. “They have gaps and we’re trying to close them.”

Tobie DePauw , manager of North Central Cyclery, 534 E. Lincoln Highway, is enthusiastic about the project.

“I’m excited about any extension,” he said. “It’s about time they’re closing those gaps. Certain parts of town need them.”

In the future, DePauw would like to see two-lane bike paths along Illinois Route 23 instead of just sidewalks.

“There will be more bicycle business down there, and it will be useful for people so maybe they’ll avoid using cars.”

Katie Trusk is a City Reporter for the Northern Star.