City officials got some good news and some not-so-good news in a recent meeting with an Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) engineer.

In his report to the City Council for Tuesday’s council meeting, City Manager Gary Bradley wrote that he and Mayor Gary Moore met with the IDOT traffic engineer for Kewanee’s region, and two other IDOT officials.

A representative of State Rep. Travis Weaver’s office also attended, Bradley wrote.

“The meeting was both informative and productive,” he wrote, “and I would suggest that were able to identify some common ground and agree on an approach that, though not immediate, will accelerate some of the planned improvements to IDOT routes through Kewanee.”

That would include Route 78, Bradley wrote in his report, for which the portion of Main Street just north of the railroad tracks is in bad shape.

But Moore and Bradley received less-encouraging news about a long-planned improvement project for Route 81 in Kewanee.

For several years, IDOT has planned an improvement to West Sixth Street from Lexington Avenue to West Street. The work would include building a new bike path along the highway.

“The update regarding Route 81 was not as positive,” Bradley wrote, “as right-of-way acquisition and utility relocations were identified as stumbling blocks that could potentially further delay the start of the project.”

Work on the Route 81 improvement has been scheduled for next year.