Heartland, Country Financial partner on $1.38 million trail expansion

Image courtesy of Heartland Community College

NORMAL, Ill. – Heartland Community College and Country Financial have partnered to fund a $1.38 million extension of the Constitution Trail.

The Central Illinois insurance firm joined other donors in supporting the project, which also received a $200,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Steve Fast works in the office of HCC President Keith Corneille and had a great role in the curation of the extension.

“I just try to help with the communications, help everything get coordinated for the announcement, and to help people know what we’re doing at the college and how these entities support our community,” Fast said.

Fast mentioned the 14 acres of “wild property,” including Birky Pond on the east side of the Heartland Community College campus that extend to the Corn Crib stadium.

“That space has been left wild for about 20 years, and we were looking to develop that,” Fast said.

The reason for the development of the Constitution Trail came from a requirement by Illinois State Law.

“About every 10 years, community colleges are required to develop a Facilities Master Plan, a plan to help meet the needs of the community,” Fast explained.

He mentioned that the Master Plan originated in 2019, which included the development of the 14-acre area along Raab Road.

Fast explained the benefits of this extension to both Heartland students and community members.

“It’s easy to walk, bike and run straight to our campus with this trail extension. There wasn’t easy biking access directly to campus before,” Fast said.

Over a mile was added to the Constitution Trail with the development, with “restored native prairie” set to border the new addition.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completion of the project took place very recently on Friday Oct. 24.