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Editorial: Long Grove's bid to meet future needs, keep historical character

Chicago without the Hancock. Arlington Heights without Arlington Park. Long Grove without the one-lane covered bridge.

All three notions, on their own scale, are unfathomable to those who live in these places as well as many of the rest of us who've visited them.

Remember back to the dark days in Arlington Heights when the original racetrack burned down and there was some concern over whether it would be rebuilt? That was almost 30 years ago.

So identifiable is the, yes, rickety covered bridge over Buffalo Creek that it is part of the official village logo.

You could have last visited Long Grove decades ago and forgotten much about it. That is, until you cross the quaint, century-old bridge on Robert Parker Coffin Road and enter the haven of shops beyond it. And it all comes flooding back.

There is a very real possibility that the picturesque bridge could go the way of the one-room schoolhouse.

It is, as we said, rickety.

And village leaders expect to decide by the end of the year whether to rehab the structure or build a new one.

"It's historic, which makes it charming and part of historic Long Grove, but we have to be concerned about the bridge that'll carry forth into the future," Village President Angie Underwood told staff writer Bob Susnjara.

While the wooden cover on the bridge isn't quite 50 years old, the underlying bridge structure dates back to about 1906.

The central issue is not whether the covered bridge has value. On that everyone seems to agree. It's just a question of how much value.

The village engineer pegged the cost of renovating the bridge to meet modern standards at $400,000. That would keep it in shape another 30 years. And all of that money would have to be locally sourced.

But if village leaders agree to tear down and build a new, two-lane bridge that could accommodate bigger, heavier trucks, they could seek to recoup 80 percent of the cost from a federal and state replacement program. The village's end for this much larger, costlier project would be as little as $160,000.

The bridge is not just a quaint photo for your Facebook page. It serves as the gateway to the downtown shopping district. And that is the lifeblood of the village.

Those who've studied the bridge have a great appreciation for the century-old structure more so than the added-on topper.

But the leader of the business community even supports a new bridge. One that has the feel of the old one, of course.

If a feeling is what Long Grove is trying to convey - one that, as the mayor put it, will carry the village into the future, then the village would be well served to take the federal money, build a bridge that will withstand the pounding of trucks and carry people into downtown for the next 50 years.

And put an old-fashioned wooden topper on it just as before.

Long Grove mayor talks about the future of village's covered bridge

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Long Grove debating whether to renovate or replace iconic covered bridge

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