As Long Grove officials grapple with potential costs to repair or rehabilitate the village’s iconic bridge, they heard pleas to save the one-lane structure that dates to the early 1900s.

As part of the process, village board members must decide if they want to continue with a first-phase engineering study exploring the renovation of the covered bridge and construction of a new one- or two-lane span on the western edge of downtown.

The complete report could cost the village up to $150,000.

Roughly 50 spectators, many of them downtown business owners in favor of keeping the bridge over Buffalo Creek, packed village hall for a meeting Tuesday night.

Concerns were voiced about losing a longtime village symbol beloved by visitors, plus the possibility of dangerous conditions for downtown pedestrians if the two-lane option were selected.

“This bridge represents the collective heartbeat of our past,” said John Kopecky of Country House of Long Grove. “And that’s as simple as I can say it.”

By most accounts, the steel-pin-connected pony truss bridge was built in 1906 and received the cover in 1973. Its fate has been a source of discussion since village officials cited its poor condition about three years ago and the idea of a two-lane replacement surfaced.

Mayor Angie Underwood said officials this week learned the village won’t be reimbursed through a federal program for the engineering study’s $150,000 full cost unless a two-lane bridge is built.

Long Grove has paid $65,000 for work already performed and would have to authorize $85,000 more to complete the report.