TOLONO — Traffic was diverted on a two-block stretch of U.S. 45 in Tolono for about two hours on Tuesday afternoon while a bomb disposal team removed an artillery shell from a Tolono tavern.

Ed Gregg, the owner of Lu & Denny's tavern on U.S. 45, said he was cleaning when he saw what looked like an old artillery shell in the corner of a liquor cabinet on the first floor.

Gregg knew University of Illinois police Capt. Skip Frost of the bomb squad, so he asked Frost to come to the tavern to take a look at the shell at 12:45 p.m.

When Frost arrived about a half hour later, he confirmed that it was an artillery shell and called the rest of the bomb squad, made up of officers from the UI and the Champaign police departments.

An artillery shell consists of a cylindrical metal casing containing an explosive charge and a projectile, Frost said.

"We believe it was an artillery round. It was well in excess of 40 years old," he said.

Gregg said the shell was round and about 9 to 10 inches tall. Frost said the gray shell weighed about 5 to 7 pounds.

"My mother said she brought it here from her own mother's house," Gregg said.

Frost said the squad couldn't tell whether the artillery shell was still charged, so a robot was sent into the tavern to safely remove the object.

Frost said the shell was taken to a safe location north of town, where it was detonated.

"It was not live," Frost said. "The big boom that people may have heard was from our own explosives used to counter-charge it."

Traffic reopened on U.S. 45 about 3 p.m. Tuesday.