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Deadly Henry County, Illinois intersection to close for safety improvements

Construction crews will be closing a deadly Henry County intersection south of Colona, Illinois as they work to improve visibility in the area.

Construction crews will be closing a deadly Henry County intersection south of Colona, Illinois as they work to improve visibility in the area.

Starting Tuesday, July 7, 2015, the intersection of U.S. 6 and Illinois Route 84 will be closed to traffic. According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, the intersection will be closed for 90 days and traffic will be detoured around the area.

Deadly Henry County, Illinois intersection to close for safety improvements

U.S. 6 traffic will be detoured onto Interstate 280 and Illinois Route 84 traffic will be detoured onto Cleveland Road and I-80.

"The intersection is being reconstructed to add turn lanes, traffic signals, and provide better visibility by changing the roadway profiles," said a statement from Illinois DOT.

This road improvement comes roughly two years after a father and son were killed in a motorcycle crash at that intersection.  The crash happened June 14, 2013; Scott Teerlink was killed at the scene, his ten year old son Luke died the next day, previous reports indicate.

Related: Friend pushes for stop light at deadly intersection 

Since the crash, friends have pushed for a stop light at the intersection.  Former police officer Jeff Wilson said he was excited to see that work had finally started.

“It just really, really does me good to know that they are finally going to fix the problem,” he previously said.

Deadly Henry County, Illinois intersection to close for safety improvements

Valley Construction Company is doing the work on the road. The road will be closed so that existing roadway can be removed and new pavement can be placed.

The roadways are expected to reopen Tuesday, October 6. Final cleanup was expected to be done by early November.  The construction work is part of a $5 million project. 

"Drivers should plan extra time for their trips through the area and should be alert for the detour signing," said a statement from the Illinois DOT.

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