A detour that caused concern among residents in Lyme, East Haddam and Salem last year seems poised to become a problem again this year ― but for new reasons.

Beginning Wednesday, Route 82 will be closed for 47 days between Darling Road in Salem and Route 156 in East Haddam.

The recommended detour as crews replace the bridge across Strongs Brook in East Haddam would take drivers some 30 miles out of the way.

Drivers traveling east on Route 82 will be instructed to detour onto Route 156, travel to Old Lyme where they will pick up Interstate 95 North, and then get on 395 North.

From that point, they will travel to Route 85 North in Waterford which will take them up to the rotary at Salem Four Corners to get back to route 82.

Those familiar with the area are likely to use Darling Road, a much shorter route that will get them around the construction area.

Last year, similar work resulted in complaints of speeding and heavy traffic along Daring Road in Salem. Some areas of the road, known as Salem Road in Lyme, have narrow bridges, and the road lacks shoulders in many areas, making speeding dangerous to both motorists and residents. The road is often used by joggers and children on bikes.

Traffic Engineer III Andrew Millovitsch, the state Department of Transportation’s project engineer, said, “They are going to see the same influx of vehicles, but this year, I cannot go ahead and offer any help to try and remedy the situation.”

He said after talking to residents affected last year, he recommended increased speed enforcement and signage.

“I did everything I could last year to slow the people down, and it ended up helping a little bit, but it didn’t remedy the situation completely,” he said.

When approached by the DOT last fall for permission to use the road again for the imminent project, both East Haddam and Lyme agreed to the proposal.

But Salem Selectman Kevin Lyden, who was first selectman at the time, declined the department’s request on behalf of Salem on Oct. 14, which resulted in the DOT having to use state roads for the planned detour.

Reached by phone Friday evening, Lyden said during last year’s construction, the town provided all of the speed mitigation on the town’s part of the road, including radar speed signs, stop signs at either end of the narrow bridge and increased police presence, and the town will do the same this year if the situation warrants it. He also said the town has had discussions with the state police regarding potential issues.

“The DOT did nothing to mitigate that last year,” he said, adding “we’re the ones who sent our public works out; we’re the ones who put the signs out.”

In his opinion, the DOT could have redirected Strong’s Brook and reconstructed the bridge one lane at a time, allowing alternating traffic directions in a single lane and avoided the road closure entirely. “I just don’t buy the fact that it had to be done this way,” he said.

“If we allowed it to go down Salem Road, and have that as the marked detour, how would that be better,” he asked, explaining that he felt that, though locals would still use the road, the tourists and trucks would generally follow the posted detour, resulting in a slight improvement over last year’s issues, which he described as “terrible.”

In addition to the official detour’s length, the issue of increased traffic on Salem Road remains.

“All of the people familiar with the detour last year, and all the people that are familiar with the area in general, know that that is the fastest way around the road closure, so they are going to continue to use Salem Road,” Millovitsch said.

Lyme First Selectman David Lahm said the town has concerns about speeding and the increased traffic on the road but will be putting up its own signs and portable digital speed signs, as well as taking other measures to mitigate any issues, including potentially paying for increased state trooper presence along the road if necessary.

Lahm said his preference would have been for the state to be able to use the road as the detour again this year.

“It worked — I won’t say it worked well, but it worked,” he said.

Millovitsch said he advised the town of Salem to add some additional police presence and put signs up because the DOT was not able to provide any assistance due to the road not being part of the official detour.

“My hands are tied. I can’t go ahead and direct the contractor to go and put signs out on this town road, because it’s not my detour anymore,” he said.

Salem First Selectman Ed Chmielewski did not respond to a request for comment.