One of the most highlighted features of the DeKalb Park District is not the Hopkins Park Pool or the Buena Vista golf course – it’s the bike pathways used to navigate through DeKalb.

Through surveys conducted last summer, the park district estimates that one in five residents used the bike paths at least 10 times last summer. There were 70,000 visits made to the pathways last summer.

The bike pathways extend through DeKalb for six and a half miles before joining in Sycamore. The main bike path begins on Taylor Street and runs along the Kishwaukee River to Hopkins Park. As the pathway makes its way through Sycamore, it connects with the Great Western Trail, which runs a total of 17 miles to St. Charles.

“The pathways run the full length of the city, along the Kishwaukee River, through the university and around the lagoon, then through Hopkins Park,” said Dave Emanuelson, executive director of the DeKalb Park District.

All of the pathways that run through DeKalb and Sycamore are completely paved, but become gravel and dirt trails when along the Great Western Trail.

“Currently the park district is extending the trail a mile from Prairie Park on Annie Glidden Road to Taylor Street, just west of the Knolls subdivision,” Emanuelson said.

The “pedestrian roadway” is being used more now that the age of the DeKalb population is growing older. Although many of the older citizens of DeKalb use the trails, they are being used by more younger citizens.

“The trails connect the university to the town; students use it, and since many residents work there, they take the trails to work or class,” Emanuelson said.

Many NIU students use the bike paths as a way to get around town.

“I’m supportive of anything that promotes self-contained transportation; that is exactly what this does,” said Craig Cowen, a senior public relations major.

The park district says that since DeKalb is a university town, it has to provide recreational areas where city residents and students can rollerblade, walk or ride their bike, Emanuelson said.

“I don’t like to exercise indoors, this is a safe place for pedestrians,” Cowen said.