Long Grove To Decide Fate Of Historic Covered Bridge By Year's End
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The signature 100-year-old covered bridge in northwest suburban Long Grove is due for an overhaul, but the key question for village officials is how much to spend to repair it.
WBBM Newsradio's John Cody reports Village President Angie Underwood said Tuesday the bridge can be repaired so it lasts another 30 years, rebuilt the same way it is now, or replace it using federal funds – which would mean meeting federal bridge standards, and having two lanes instead of one.
"That is the lowest cost option to the village, but we'd have to build it to federal standards – two lane bridge – so it would change the character of it," she said. "We'd try to make it look as much as we could from the original, but you're taking a certain width and you're widening it at the opening."
The bridge was first built over Buffalo Creek more than 100 years ago, but didn't become a covered bridge until the existing wooden sides and roof were added in the 1970s.
"The bridge connects the old Long Grove community church to the downtown business district," she said. "The bridge has been here long enough, and Long Grove has became enough of a tourist destination, I believe, that a lot of people in the Chicago area will recognize that covered bridge. There aren't too many covered bridges around."
Underwood said using federal funds to replace the covered bridge would cost them 20 percent of the price – or $160,000 of the $800,000 overall cost. It would cost the village $400,000 to rebuild it on its own and leave it a one-lane bridge.
She said she and the Long Grove Board of Trustees have been listening to input from residents, and should decide toward the end of the year what to do with the bridge.