I&M Canal path fully repaired; now open from LaSalle to Morris

UTICA – The washout on the I&M Canal path between Utica and Ottawa has now been fully repaired and reopened to the public. The project took most of the summer to complete as crews worked to rebuild the path after flooding damaged it in 2013. The canal was opened in 1848 to move goods from Chicago to the Illinois River and eventually the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi river. Efforts to make it a recreation area began in earnest after being designated a National Heritage Corridor in 1984.