Introduction

Winnetka IL is home to a 2.5 mile section of a popular hiking trail named the Green Bay Trail (hereafter referred to as the GBT). The GBT gives local residents an area to enjoy the outdoors, but some problems have been putting the enjoyment of these users at risk. Most of these challenges are caused by the trails location: at the bottom of a 15 ft. deep valley. This location means the trail is bordered by steep slopes and has roads passing overhead. Due to the steep slopes, a significant amount of water runs down from the higher ground above the trail and gathers in the valley, collecting at the bottom. These pools of water become breeding grounds for mosquitos, or create methane through the wet decomposing plants collecting at the bottom. Meanwhile, the roads that cross above mean that the trail must use underpasses in order to pass through. These underpasses are unsightly, and their concrete walls are commonly graffitied. These two problems come together to greatly reduce the natural beauty of the trail, as well as create potential health hazards for users.

In order to address these challenges, our team has devised a series of improvements that will not only restore the GBT into a safe and beautiful trail for people to use, but will even improve the user experience enough to where the GBT may become a destination for people to visit in Winnetka. Our team has designed a system of tiered retaining walls, additional plants, QR Codes, and murals to accomplish this. In order to make the GBT safer, our team has designed a plan to have tiered walls to reduce the amount of runoff water that collects along the trail, reducing the amount of water damage and mosquitoes in the area. To make the trail more beautiful, we have designed a plan to use murals and additional plants. The combination of these solutions will turn the underpasses from cold, bland concrete walls to areas with bright colors and beautiful, unique plants not found anywhere else along the bath. Finally, to improve the user experience to the point where the GBT is a destination for users to visit, our solutions will incorporate the users and residents of Winnetka, creating an experience that can only be had on the GBT. This will be accomplished through the murals being created by local artists, as well as the QR codes that will be incorporated into the underpasses. By asking local artists to create the murals for the GBT, the trail will become an area to appreciate the talent within the community at Winnetka. Not only will local residents be able to appreciate the talent within their community, but people outside of the community will be exposed to what Winnetka has to offer. In addition, the QR codes will directly link to a website run by the Friends of the Green Bay Trail. This will give them a platform to communicate to the users of the trail. Done properly, these QR codes could be used to organize events, spread information, entertain and more. These two solutions together will potentially allow the GBT to become a focal point for the Winnetka community, being a place for both appreciating past talent, and future development.