Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series on road and bridge work planned for the Bureau County area during the next five years.

PERU — The engineers and the road experts were out Tuesday as part of the Illinois Department of Transportation’s public meeting on its upcoming Multi-Modal Transportation Improvement Program for Fiscal Years 2014-19.

One of the big topics of conversation at the meeting, which took place at the Peru City Hall, was the proposed Route 89 bridge over the Illinois River south of Spring Valley.