Grand Opening Of Hughes Gateway Beach Access Road

LAKE FOREST, IL — Lake Forest residents are invited to attend the grand opening of the Hughes Gateway at Forest Park Beach, the new access point approved in 2018.

There will be a brief program at the top of the road and beach parking will be available, the city said in a release. The grand opening will be Saturday, Sept. 14, at 10 a.m.

Following flooding and ground oversaturation, the city determined the boardwalk at the beach was unsafe due to movement on the bluff on June 26, 2018, and ordered the north access road and the boardwalk closed. The bluff adjacent to the access road collapsed the next day, taking with it a roughly 60-foot-wide area from the table land to the road, according to the city.

See more on Patch: Lake Forest Approves $2 Million Rebuild To Beach Access Road

The city formed a bluff advisory committee to work on developing options. Last month it presented three options to aldermen, which were narrowed down to two final proposals at the Oct. 1, 2018, City Council meeting.

The option selected at the council's Oct. 15, 2018, meeting reconstructed the North beach access road so it is no longer directly adjacent to the bluff, minimizing the impact of vegetation at an estimated cost of $1,985,000.