Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Tri-State area

(Quincy, Ill.) A stretch of Illinois highway received a new name Monday, April 6th.

A portion of highway 24 from the Quincy Memorial Bridge, north to the Illinois Veteran's Sunset Cemetery was officially designated the Veterans Medal of Honor Highway.

The unveiling ceremony took place at the Quincy Veterans Home, with many veterans on hand to be a part of the event.

KHQA spoke with State Representative Jil Tracy about what this designation means.

"There's only about 3,400 recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor, which has been in existence since 1861. So it became three-fold," said Tracy.  "To recognize that signifigance for Quincy to have those number of distinguished veterans buried in Sunset Cemetery, to honor our veterans home and our veterans in general."

Tracy said it's great to finally bring this project to completion as it has been in talks for nearly five years

KHQA also spoke with IDOT Deputy Director Roy Dolges about this designation.

"Well I think this is a great honor for the Quincy area here," said Dolges, "and because of the sacrifices that Medal of Honor recipients made for their country, Medal of Honor Recipients are probably the real, true patriots of this country."

The Sunset Cemetery is very important to the Medal of Honor Highway as there are many recipients of the honor buried there.