The two-phase, $7.7 million extension of the North Branch Trail has been completed, and the path hosted its first bicyclists during a ribbon-cutting ceremony this month, according to DNAinfo. The three new miles of pathway have made the North Branch Trail a direct connection from Glencoe’s Chicago Botanic Gardens to the Chicago neighborhood of North Mayfair. 

The North Branch Trail is now a total of 22 miles. This path is a part of a larger — and growing — network of bike paths that wind through Chicago’s Northwest Side.

The first phase of this extension initiative, completed last year, was a 1.8-mile stretch of path that goes from Edgebrook to 5420 N. Forest Glen Ave., the edge of Forest Glen Woods, according to the report. The completion of the extension brings this path through Labagh Woods, moving from Cicero to Foster Avenue.

“Within 30 seconds on this trail you will be immersed in nature, and that's really an unusual circumstance in an urban environment. There's an opportunity to ride for miles and miles, and get free from some of the urban stresses that we all have here in the city,” Cook County Forest Preserves Superintendent Arnold Randall told DNAinfo. 

Cook County Forest Preserves have hundreds of miles of bike paths. Next, the city hopes to add the 1.3-mile Weber Spur trail to its network of paths, DNAinfo reports. The Weber Spur trail would cross the North Branch Trail on its way from Chicago’s Mayfair neighborhood to the suburb of Lincolnwood.