FAIRPORT, N.Y. -- The Fairport Lift Bridge is in need of some critical repairs, but residents worry how the village will be impacted by the closure of the major roadway.

"This is a very old bridge, this bridge is going to be 105 years old by the time we close it," said Jordan Guerrein, a representative for the New York State Department of Transportation.

"The lift mechanism is the original 1914 mechanism, so yeah, this needs to get done," said Village of Fairport Trustee Tim Slisz.

The New York State Department of Transportation plans to replace that mechanism on Fairport's Main Street lift bridge sometime next year. And while the project needs to be completed, residents worry where the excess traffic will end up.

"It's a very busy intersection now, and with the Main Street bridge going down for that 12 to 15 month period, Parker Street will get a lot more traffic," said Slisz.

"The Parker Street bridge is not an official detour for this project here. We're encouraging folks to take Turk Hill, Ayrault Road and Whitney Road," said Guerrein.

During the meeting the DOT presented its plan for pedestrian traffic, but residents who attended asked that a temporary bridge for foot traffic would be considered.

"The actual scope of the work is not going to change at all. What we can work with, with the village, we're going to try and see what best practices we can do to work with the village during this extended period of time when the bridge is going to be closed," said Guerrein.

"We know there's going to be a disruption, for more than 15 months possibly, and we just want to make sure that the traffic and the pedestrians are circulating throughout the village as best they can," said Slisz.

"We're really trying to make this project go more quickly than other projects like it. And we have incentives in the contract, for the contractor, to help with that," said Guerrein.

The project is slated to take anywhere from 13 to 15 months with an anticipated start date in July of next year. Residents and business owners said that they would like to see that pushed back to the fall, a suggestion that the DOT says it will consider.

"Our timeline is pretty firm in the sense that, we are not allowing a contractor to close this bridge before July 8, 2019. That's going to give us Fairport Canal Days, the end of the school year, for school buses to pass through that bridge. And also the 4th of July parade, which crosses over that lift bridge as well," said Guerrein.

The DOT says they will work with the village to come up with a solution.