Local officials want bridge near Starved Rock to stay open

OTTAWA, Ill. (AP) - Officials in north central Illinois are urging the state to keep an old Illinois River bridge open while a new bridge is built. 

The (LaSalle) News-Tribune reports that the state is considering two options to replace a bridge on Illinois Route 178 that leads into Starved Rock State Park in Utica. 

It could take two years to build a new bridge. If the old bridge is torn down before the new one is built, traffic into the park would have to be re-routed. 

LaSalle County’s highway committee has passed a resolution that calls on the state to build the new bridge next to the old bridge. And an official at the Starved Rock Lodge says a bridge teardown would hurt tourism at the park.