The state plans to replace the North Washington Street Bridge between Boston’s North End and Charlestown in stages beginning in the spring of 2018.

The 117-year-old truss bridge, also known as the Charlestown Bridge, is one of the oldest of its kind in Massachusetts.

The project, which could take as long as five years, will involve lane closures that could affect up to 40,000 cars daily, a state highway official told the Globe’s Adam Vaccaro.

The North Washington Street Bridge replacement comes at a generally busy time for Boston bridges. When work on that span is starting up, the state will be winding down years-long work on the Longfellow Bridge between Cambridge and Boston.

Also, the North Washington Street Bridge work will launch around the time that work starts on repaving and repairing a 1,675-foot stretch of the Tobin Bridge between Charlestown and Chelsea.

Finally, the state is about halfway through the rebuilding of the Commonwealth Avenue bridge over the Mass. Pike in Back Bay.