La Salle County’s first roundabout will be partially opened Thursday

The roundabout located at Plank and Shooting Park Road will be partially open to the public starting Thursday.

It is scheduled to be available only for northbound Plank Road traffic. It will be the first roundabout in La Salle County with more to follow in the next few years.

The planned roundabout at U.S. 6 and Route 178 in Utica was originally scheduled for 2020 construction, but the Utica Village Board announced in early September that the project is now slated for 2021.

Further construction still is needed to get the Peru roundabout fully operational, such as work at the Midtown Road intersection and removal of parts of Plank Road.

Peru Mayor Scott Harl is hopeful that the rest of construction can be completed by late October or early November, but as with most road work, it will be weather dependent.

“It will soon be completely open all the way from Shooting Park Road all the way up to Midtown (Road), and then you can go back onto the old North Peoria Street,” Harl said. “The next phase will then come next year.”

The road residents will be driving on starting Thursday is not the final surface.

The plan is to shut the roundabout down in a few weeks in order to put on the final blacktop coat and stripe everything.

Harl was excited to see the construction coming together and believes the community will enjoy the roundabout’s ability to relieve traffic.

“[Roundabouts] work, and they are an efficient method of moving cars,” Harl said.