By Verna Slate, Williamson County Bureau
MARION, Ill. — Drivers who count on Illinois 37 to get across Williamson County had better find another way this weekend. The Illinois Department of Transportation announced Thursday that the highway, along with Illinois 14, will close for culvert replacement work beginning Sept. 11, according to Southern Illinoisan Local and a separate IDOT notice specific to the Williamson County stretch of Route 37.
Culvert work is not glamorous. It rarely makes the front page unless you're the one detouring around it on your way to a shift. But it's the kind of unglamorous infrastructure work that keeps the roads from collapsing out from under drivers when the next hard rain comes.
IDOT has not said, per the available reporting, exactly when the roads will reopen. Motorists should plan alternate routes through the weekend and watch for updated signage.
It's a small closure in the scheme of the county's road network — but ask anyone who's tried to cross Williamson County without Route 37, and "small" stops sounding like the right word.
— Attribution: Southern Illinoisan Local; illinois-department-of-transportation.prezly.com
— Compiled from reporting by Southern Illinoisan Local and IDOT.
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