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

SCHUYLER COUNTY, ILL. -- In 2011, 174 police officers were killed in the line of duty across the United States.

Their names and thousands of other officers who have died over the years have been placed on a police memorial in Washington D.C.

Now an Illinois State trooper who was working within the boundaries of District 20 and died in the line of duty more then 40-years-ago is being honored with the naming of a highway after him.

The ceremony was held on a bright, sunny and windy day.

Trooper Floyd Farrar, was killed when he was struck by a car when he was offering help to a stalled motorist. And to honor him, a section of Illinois Highway 103 is now known as the Trooper Floyd Farrar Memorial Highway.

Lt. Brad Lacey is the commander of ISP District 20 in Pittsfield.

"Long overdue, I mean 44-years-ago, but the important thing is now, people who are travelling on Illinois Route 103 will see that sign and might not know Trooper Floyd Farrar but will know with law enforcement sometimes there are high risks and sometimes the ultimate price is paid and maybe they will pause and remember Trooper Floyd Farrar," Lacey said.

Besides the police officers who attended the ceremony, members of Farrar's family also made the trip to the Sugar Grove Church.

Susie Jurgens was only 11 when her father was killed. But she remembers many things about her dad including that her dad polished almost every metal piece he had associated with his uniform before he left the house when he went on duty. She said this event was quite an honor.

"It's a place I will probably actually come to now and have a good feeling about. A long time ago when I was little and the accident happened it was a place I kind of wanted to avoid, but I think it's brought closure and it's brought happiness and it will be a place for me to visit now and our kids and our grandkids," Jurgens said.

Lacey said it took about a year and a half to get the highway named after the fallen trooper. It took a resolution from the Illinois State Senate as well as approval from the Illinois Department of Transportation to get the highway named after Farrar. Lacey said he never met the trooper, but he hopes this is a small measure to honor a man who gave his life serving others.

The section of highway that was named after Farrar is about nine miles in length and it's part of the highway where the trooper was killed back in 1968.