East Lyme — About 30 people listened Thursday to a presentation from the state Department of Transportation on planned upgrades to the Niantic River Bridge, which carries Route 156 between Waterford and East Lyme. The DOT emphasized that it would minimize the impact to the communities, especially during the summer months, during the two-year project.

The $15 million project includes resurfacing the roadway, replacing bridge joints, fixing steel, painting the entire bridge, upgrading the control house and performing electrical and mechanical repairs to preserve the drawbridge, built in 1991, for another 25 years, according to the DOT's presentation. The mechanical and electrical work includes replacing the span locks, the component that locks the bridge in place, and replacing the control and timing system so it operates more efficiently.

The project, which is expected to be funded with 80 percent federal and 20 percent state funds, is slated to begin in the spring of 2020 and be completed by the fall of 2022, according to DOT.

Heather Ivester, project manager who works for Michael Baker International, which is providing design services to the DOT, said the major work is expected to be completed outside of the June 15 to Labor Day window.

"The goal really is to limit the impacts to your community," Ivester said. "We want to limit the impact for both the marine and the vehicular traffic."

DOT showed on a poster board a detour that directs traffic north to Route 1, but Ivester said ideally there will not be a need for detouring traffic.

There will be a need for single-lane closures, which will mean alternating one-way travel, during certain times in the project, including during a roughly four-week period to replace the span locks, according to the presentation. The bridge will be in the closed position during the replacement of the span locks, so DOT said it would aim to do that work during winter months, when there's less boat traffic on the river.

Other parts of the project, including repaving and deck repairs and control house upgrades, also will require a lane closure, Ivester said.

"But again, we don't anticipate any major impacts to vehicles or marine traffic during that June 15 to Labor Day window," she said.

The channel will be reduced during repairs to the fender system and the lift span, she said. All work will need to be approved by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Members of the local fishing industry expressed that it is important that the full closure of the bridge not happen during fishing season.

Captain Joe Devine of the Mijoy fishing boat told The Day that, to come through, the boat needs the bridge to open at times, especially during a strong tide.

Residents and elected officials also raised questions about the impact on car traffic.

State Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, asked what would require the 8-mile detour.

DOT officials said the project still is in the preliminary design phase, but they said they anticipate the work could be done without the use of the detour.

"We're hoping we don't need that, but if something comes up during construction that required it, then we have a plan in place we could fall back on," said Timothy Fields, transportation principal engineer. He added that DOT is aware of another project to redesign the I-95 Exit 74 interchange with Route 161, which would begin in 2021, so DOT particularly wants to avoid the detour in light of that project and it would only be used as a last resort.

DOT said the two projects will overlap by a year and the agency will coordinate them to ensure they won't cause problems for each other.

DOT has said it anticipates starting the final design phase of the Niantic River Bridge project around the end of the summer.

k.drelich@theday.com