MT. VERNON, IL — The Mt. Vernon City Council approved a resolution this week to name a connector road Progress Drive that connects Potomac Boulevard and Davidson Avenue.

The road is currently awaiting final striping but after that ,it will be open to the public. The road currently only connects Potomac to Davidson, however there will be future projects to connect both of those roads to Shiloh Drive. The road itself is located off Potomac Blvd. north of Buffalo Wild Wings and south of the Rend Lake College Marketplace. The initiative by the council is a part of the long range plain to deal with dead end streets. Last year, the council approved a $397,942 bid from Guinzy Construction Inc. of Ashley to build this connector road.

There will be follow-up projects this year as a three-phase plan by the city gets underway involving 44th Street. The first phase will connect 44th Street to Mateer Drive while the second phase would complete a frontage road from 44th to south of Heritage Road. The final phase is to connect Ilberry road to 44th as well.