A yearlong project to replace the Lyndale Avenue bridge over Minnehaha Creek begins Monday, when workers start to clear the area surrounding the old bridge of trees and vegetation.

Some street lanes will be temporarily closed while the work is done. The bridge will not close to traffic until February, when crews will take it down and begin building the new bridge.

The Hennepin County Board approved the $3.5 million project last year, although it's been known for a while that the 119-year-old span needed replacing. The bridge has been modified too much to merit preservation, but it will be photographed for historic purposes once the vegetation is cleared around it.

The bridge work will dovetail with the county's $9 million reconstruction of Lyndale Avenue (a county highway) from 56th Street to Minnehaha Parkway. That work also will begin next spring and is scheduled for completion in 2013. Federal, state, county and city dollars are paying for the project.