July 8, 2007
The Badger State Trail in south-central Wisconsin was officially opened. This 40-mile (64-kilometer) trail courses from the state boundary with Illinois to Wisconsin’s capital city of Madison. In between those two points, the Badger State Trail passes through – from south to north – the city of Monroe; the villages of Monticello and Belleville; and the city of Fitchburg.
Nancy Griswold of the Madison office of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin emphasized the wide-ranging significance of the trail for bicyclists at the time of its debut. She said, “The Badger Trail is important to bicyclists in southern Wisconsin, touring bicyclists in the Midwest and from northern Illinois.” In her article appearing in the Madison-based Capital Times the day before the opening of the trail, reporter Samara Kalk Derby highlighted how the new route would also accommodate other means of mobility. She noted, “Besides biking, the trail can be used for hiking, snowmobiling and — in certain areas, at certain times and under certain conditions — all-terrain vehicle use.”
The main portion of the Badger State Trail follows a one-time rail line that had been built by the Chicago, Madison and Northern Railroad during the 1880s. (The accompanying 2015 photo shows a section of the trail that crosses over a street in Monroe.)
Photo Credit: Corey Coyle (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en)
For more information on the Badger State Trail, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badger_State_Trail
Transportation History 
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