MADRID — Work may begin on the Route 345 bridge in the hamlet — the closing of which has caused an eight-mile detour — a few months earlier than planned.

Department of Transportation officials in Watertown were able to compile a work plan and send it off to their Albany offices last week. Officials hope Albany will approve the plan and send the work out to bid in March, rather than May as first estimated.

"I'm sure they're not going to be throwing any parades" in town, Michael R. Flick, DOT spokesman. "We were able to pick up another couple months."

Construction is still going to begin in spring of next year, but because the paperwork has been expedited, crews will get a few extra weeks on the bridge before the Grasse River sturgeon's mating season forces them to stop for part of the summer.

The nine-arch stone bridge, built in 1882, has been closed since May, when DOT discovered cracks in the span had widened substantially. Temporary repairs were done in 2006, in the hopes the bridge would hold out until 2010, when more repairs were scheduled. Repairs will cost an estimated $5 million.

Unfortunately, stone bridges often behave unpredictably, DOT officials have noted, and Madrid's is no exception. Rather than risk further damage, or a possible collapse, the state opted to close it.

"It's inconvenient for everybody to have to go around, but it's something we have to live with," Supervisor William B. Carkner said. "But they are making an effort to move it up. The quicker they get it done the better."

Engineers have been working to figure out how the bridge was built, as blueprints were never drawn. Its age qualifies it to be on the National Register of Historic Places, giving the state impetus to rebuild it rather than to tear it down and replace it.

Town residents demanded that a temporary bridge be put into place at a special meeting in August, but the additional cost was prohibitive. Additionally, any temporary bridge would be built over the existing one, which would only create more stress on the already-fragile structure.

Since the bridge was closed, the hamlet has been divided and its few small businesses and response time from emergency vehicles have suffered.

"As far as rescue or fire, we're looking at 15 minutes extra response time," Anthony A. Cooper, a member of the Madrid Rescue Squad and the Town Council, said at the August meeting. "It's not good."