Motorists traveling between Scott and Pike Counties will have an easier time getting around now that a main bridge has reopened.
The Illinois Department of Transportation announced late Friday, that the Florence Bridge located on IL Route 106 has reopened to traffic.
The bridge was closed indefinitely by IDOT on January 6th, after a portion of the bridge was damaged in a traffic crash that ended a multi-county chase in which a man jumped from the bridge into the river.
36-year-old Brian Lee Kerr, Jr. was pulled from the Illinois River and arrested by authorities. Kerr is the primary suspect in the shooting death of a Des Plains, Illinois man on December 28th in Oak Grove, Kentucky.
Investigators say through a series of vesicle thefts and one carjacking, Kerr made his way to Clinton, Iowa, where he stole an SUV. He was spotted by police in the vehicle traveling on Illinois Route 336 north of Quincy.
Officers pursued Kerr and a female passenger in the SUV through Adams and Pike County until Kerr crashed the vehicle into the gates and a guardrail of the Florence Bridge, where he then exited the vehicle and jumped from the bridge into the river.
Kerr was treated at an area hospital and then booked into the Pike County Jail.
IDOT officials say the Florence Bridge is back open, however, additional closures will be required in the near future to finalize repairs.