Sangamon Valley Trail

The Sangamon Valley Trail is a 5.5-mile (8.9 km) rail trail on the west side of Sangamon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Skirting Springfield, Illinois, it extends from Centennial Park, on Springfield's southwest side, to Stuart Park on the same city's northwest side. It was constructed by a Sangamon County team in 2010–2011 at a cost of $3.8 million, and opened to the public on July 26, 2011. It is operated by the Springfield Park District.

The current Trail is a segment of a 38-mile (61.2 km) right-of-way that has been set aside for rail trail use. Work began in summer 2016 to construct a $4.4 million extension of the trail. The additional 6-mile (9.7 km) of trail, to extend northward from the trail's current Stuart Park trailhead, will connect Stuart Park with Fancy Creek Township near Cantrall, Illinois. The extension of the trail to a new trailhead at Irwin Bridge Road will enable the recreational pathway to cross the Sangamon River, the river that provided the trail with its name.

The entire right-of-way connects Girard, Illinois, on the south end, to Athens, Illinois, at the north end. The right-of-way spans the western half of Sangamon County in a north-south direction, and also traverses small sections of Macoupin County and Menard County.

The right-of-way occupies an abandoned segment of the St. Louis, Peoria and North Western Railway, later consolidated into the Chicago and North Western Railroad. The primary metropolitan area served is the greater Springfield, Illinois metropolitan area.

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