A “preferred alternative” for the replacement of the Heron Street Bridge has been selected by the state Department of Transportation — a two-lane, one-way bridge that follows the alignment of the existing 70-year-old structure across the Wishkah River in Aberdeen — and project planners will talk about it at an open house at the Rotary Log Pavilion in Aberdeen on Wednesday.

About 1,000 people participated in a survey this spring about four possible replacement options presented by the state Department of Transportation. The results showed 41 percent of first-place votes went to the “Heron Street Bridge” option, the two-lane, one-way bridge.

The open house will be held 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the Log Pavilion at 1401 Sargent Blvd., and will be similar to the one held March 20 at the Log Pavilion, when the four alternatives were presented to about 150 community members. It’s a drop-in style open house highlighting the preferred alternative. There will be no formal presentation but region planners will be on hand to explain the alternatives, answer questions and take feedback.

“We appreciate such a strong community turnout,” said Regional Multimodal Planning Manager Dennis Engel. “Public engagement and feedback from our local stakeholders are critical components to the planning process before any design and construction can begin pending funding approval.”

No funding sources for design or construction of a new bridge have been announced, according to the Department of Transportation. The preferred alternative has a price tag of $66-$70 million, and previously the state had said $78.6 million has been aside aside for the bridge replacement project.

Final design work would not begin until the preferred option is made official and a timeline for construction is not yet set. Once it begins, construction is expected to last 3 1/2 years, during which time a temporary bridge would be built north of the existing bridge to accommodate traffic.

Replacing the bridge requires a number of permits, including one from the United States Coast Guard requiring the Department of Transportation to conduct a navigation impact report of the Wishkah River to determine how high the bridge needs to be for boats to safely travel under and if the bridge is fixed or opening.

Updates to the bridge replacement plan can be found at wsdot.wa.gov/projects/us12/heron-street-bridge/home.