County Officials Sound Off On Utica Bridge Demolition

The latest group to sound off about IDOT’s plans to tear down the Route 178 bridge is a La Salle County Board committee.

Members of the highway committee this week passed a resolution urging IDOT to build a new bridge while keeping the current one open. During a recent open house, IDOT officials said they would either do that or simply tear down the current bridge and make people use detours to get from downtown Utica to across the river.

Highway committee members mentioned business, tourism and emergency responder concerns to not having an available bridge over the Illinois River. IDOT has said a new bridge could take two years to build.

There’s no timeline yet for construction.