Deer carcasses float in flooded trench in the wooded median near the Goodfield exit off Interstate 74. Illinois Department of Transportation road crews have used the trencd as a disposal pit for roadkill picked up off area highways. The department hopes to cover the ditch this week.
BY MICHAEL SMOTHERS
of the Peoria Journal Star
GOODFIELD - That’s not fresh fertilizer on the vast surrounding fields motorists have been smelling the past several weeks on Interstate 74 near the Mackinaw River.
It’s not a hog farm or a dead skunk, either.
At least, not one dead skunk. Ever wonder where roadkill goes?
The answer in this case is a ditch on a barren patch of the wooded median between I-74’s directional lanes a half-mile east of the Goodfield exit. It’s about 40 feet long, 7 feet wide and at least 7 feet deep.
How much deeper depends on how many layers of dead deer and other animal carcasses are hidden by those at the surface of the murky water that’s collected in the mass grave that’s laid open for at least three weeks.
"I can’t say how long it’s (the grave) been open," said Shane Larson, District 4 operations engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation. "We hope to close it this week."
The pit, just east of the limited access lane through the median where Illinois State Police troopers are known to park in wait for speeders, remained unknown until very recently to the Woodford County Sheriff and Health departments.
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