Deerfield currently has no publicly accessible pedestrian bridges across the North Branch Chicago River and no pedestrian friendly public access to any Lake County Forest Preserves.

Nearby Lake Forest currently has 6 publicly accessible pedestrian-centric bridges in an under 2 mile span of river, whereas Deerfield has 3 miles of river with not a single publicly accessible pedestrian-centric bridge.

Building a bridge from Deerfield crossing the North Branch Chicago River would provide access to a number of popular thoroughfares for cyclists and walkers including Park Avenue, Berkeley Road and Ridge Road.  This would be in addition to the great benefit of improved access to Berkeley Prairie.