If you are 16 years old and just acquiring a driver's license, you might be 21 and able to legally drink by the time pending repairs to the Gold Star Memorial Bridge, to begin this month, are finished.

We could have a new president by then. Or Donald Trump could be well into his second term.

Actually, the name may as well be plural, the Gold Star Memorial Bridges, two mile-long spans across the Thames River, one carrying northbound lanes of Interstate 95, the original bridge, dating to 1943, and the southbound parallel structure, circa 1973.

It is colloquially referred to as one bridge, the Gold Star to us locals, named in 1951 for members of the armed forces from New London, Waterford and Groton who lost their lives during World War I, World War II and the Korean War.

I read with some horror the recent news story about the imminent start of work on the two bridges, an ambitious $280 million preservation and rehabilitation project, among the biggest on state Department of Transportation drawing boards.

It is the longest bridge and largest structure in the state.

The good news, of course, is that they are doing the work.

Who can forget that this is the state that had an entire 100-foot section of an Interstate-95 bridge suddenly collapse, in 1983, killing three people.

I trust the DOT when they say the work on the Gold Star is necessary.

The bad news is that the bridge is the heart of the region's traffic circulatory system, and a heart attack could be crippling.

I was curious to see what the DOT could tell me about how painful a half-decade of lane closures could be for our local transportation network.

The answers generally were reassuring, although certainly no one was willing to go out on a limb and say there would be no disruption.

"This is a massive construction project," said Kevin Nursick, a DOT spokesman. "You can't sugarcoat what the traffic implications are going to be."

Still, there does seem to be a lot of mitigation in the plans, and the two spans are so wide that even multiple lane closures will leave a lot of room for continuing traffic flow.

Plans for the major reconstruction of the northbound span, phase two of the project, still are taking shape, and since large parts of the steel understructure have to be replaced, along with all the decking, it is the largest piece of the work, by a lot, with an estimated cost of $250 million.

The replacement of the northbound decking, with the most potential for traffic disruption, is still a few years off.

The work on the southbound span, replacement of some 50 expansion joints, which allow the bridge to stretch and contract, tentatively is scheduled to begin April 17.

Between now and Labor Day, four of the five lanes will remain open, though narrower, and wide shoulders will go away, with Jersey barriers erected. In the fall, another lane will be lost before returning next summer.

Replacing the entire decking of the northbound span is expected to have much more onerous consequences, although DOT says it can't say for sure how that will unfold until the final design of the work is finished.

Nursick said DOT is planning to be proactive in keeping the public informed with news announcements and updates on electronic highway signs.

You might want to get familiar with the DOT traffic cam, which appears on the department's website and shows traffic at the Groton exit of the southbound span. Theday.com also will have updates.

The worst traffic implications are expected in the event of accidents. A system to keep wreckers on call is in place, since there no longer will be a breakdown lane.

There will be no changes to the configuration of on- and off-ramps, although traffic will be managed to make sure necessary merges occur before it reaches the bridge.

Keith Schoppe, a project engineer for the work, said we who use the bridge frequently will learn the changes as lanes are closed. Traffic movement will improve as we work this learning curve behind the wheel.

"You should see some consistency," he said. "Once people get used to it, it will become pretty everyday."

And then, almost before you know it, the end of the bridge work will be in sight, as we navigate our way through the close of another presidential election.

There is so much to look forward to.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com