WESTBROOK – Funding for a project to replace Westbrook’s aging Bridge Street bridge is still more than a year away, officials from the Maine Department of Transportation told a group of residents and city officials Tuesday.

“The earliest we would see this project advertised (for contractor bids) is January 2014,” said Benjamin Condon, project manager for the state Department of Transportation at a meeting at the Public Safety Building.

When the work begins, the plan is to build a second bridge downstream from the current one and then demolish the existing span. Condon said the state would use the footings from the old bridge to build a 10-foot wide pedestrian span over the river.

Condon said that the state determined it was a more cost-effective plan to build the pedestrian bridge than to design the new bridge to include a 5-foot sidewalk on the span.

The bridge was built in 1956.

Once the new bridge is complete, traffic will be diverted onto the new bridge and approach Main Street from what is now the Bridge Street spur, meaning drivers coming across the bridge toward Main Street would wind up driving behind the building that houses, among other businesses, Portland Pie Co.

Then, the stretch of Bridge Street between the Frog and Turtle and Portland Pie Co. would be used as a driveway to allow access to the parking lot behind the building that houses the Frog and Turtle and other businesses.

There will be some disruptions during construction.

Condon said that the contractor might have to use a portion of Saccarappa Park, which is immediately adjacent to the site of the new bridge, as a staging area for construction. This would also mean that the section of the Riverwalk that runs through the park would have to temporarily be taken out.

While that decision would ultimately be left up to the contractor selected to do the project, Condon said, the city would be paid for the use of the park. Once construction is completed, the park would be returned to its current state and the section of Riverwalk that was removed would be replaced as it was before construction.

While the state had considered a number of plans, including closing the bridge entirely during construction, Condon said, the project as described would cause the least disruption to the city and traffic during construction.

“We believe the plan we have presented is a plan that will work,” he said.