Spokesmen for MassHighway said this week that a plan to close Beach Road for six months to replace the Big Bridge and Little Bridge will not happen.

Last month, the Acton-based construction firm MIG Corporation filed a detour proposal with MassHighway requesting that Beach Road along Joseph Sylvia State Beach be closed from the start of construction until Memorial Day.

The news came as a surprise to Oak Bluffs and Edgartown officials, who knew about the planned bridge work but not about the plan to close the road.

MassHighway is slated to replace both bridges over the next two winters. Project planners for MIG saw an opportunity to complete all the work on the Little Bridge this off-season and requested permission to accelerate the timetable, requiring Beach Road to be closed for the next six months.

Officials from MassHighway were on Island Wednesday morning for a meeting on the Lagoon Pond Drawbridge project in Vineyard Haven. Several Island officials showed up at that meeting with questions about the closure of Beach Road, including Edgartown town administrator Pam Dolby, county manager Russell Smith, Martha’s Vineyard Commission executive director Mark London and Oak Bluffs police chief Erik Blake.

MassHighway officials explained the request to close Beach Road came from MIG and not their agency, and noted there is no provision in the contract allowing the road to be closed for any length of time. They also said they would not agree to close the road unless the plan was approved by both Edgartown and Oak Bluffs selectmen.

They said one lane of traffic will be closed this winter on Beach Road while work on the two bridges takes place. The same thing will likely occur next winter.

A pre-construction conference was set for yesterday morning at the District 5 administration building in Taunton. Several Island officials were planning to attend, including Mr. Smith.

“I think they understand that [Island officials] are against this . . . a number of concerns were raised at the meeting, and I think [MassHighway] understands that closing that road is no simple matter,” he said.

Mrs. Dolby agreed.

“The message was pretty clear . . . it seems they understood,” she said.