Nearly a decade after Mayor Thomas M. Menino vowed to demolish the Northern Avenue Bridge, the administration is set to propose a facelift of the 100-year-old historic structure.

Jessica Shumaker, a spokeswoman for Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), declined to provide details in advance of the mayor’s announcement of the plan at community meeting to be held at the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse on Friday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 pm. But a handful of sources expect the city to float a plan that would restore the 636-foot-long steel-framed operable swing bridge.

Under the proposal, the structure would be raised so boats could pass beneath without opening the manually operated swing bridge, according to sources familiar with the plan. One lane would be used for vehicular traffic, another lane would be devoted to pushcart vendors and a third lane would be reserved for pedestrians, sources said.

The bridge stretches across Fort Point Channel and links South Boston’s Seaport District with the Financial Distinct. It is one of the oldest operable steel-framed swing bridges in the world. Today, the bridge is used as a pedestrian crossing.

Swingin’ Back Around

Meaghan Maher, a spokeswoman for the Congressman Stephen F. Lynch, said Congress has allocated $9.4 million since 2005 for the bridge. She declined to comment on the project and referred a call to City Hall.

In 1999, the BRA received five proposals that included plans to either rehab the historic swing bridge and turn it into a commercial space with shops and cafes, or demolishing it and building a new bridge in its place.

At the time, the mayor vowed to replace the bridge because it was too expensive to repair. But preservationists and neighborhood activists including the Save the Old Northern Avenue Bridge organization convinced the mayor to reverse his decision.

Also that year, the BRA chose Forest City Enterprises, a Cambridge developer, and its proposal to replace the bridge with a 149,000-square-foot restaurant and shopping complex on pilings above the water.

Later, former Department of Public Works commissioner Joseph Casazza devised a plan to raise the bridge, encase part of it in glass and allow use by either a museum or commercial enterprises. But the $25 million price tag was deemed too expensive.

John Hynes, whose Seaport Square would be built within a block of the bridge, said the restoration of the bridge would enhance his project that will offer a mix of condominiums, office and retail space.

“I expect whatever the city does, it will be complementary to our project,” he said.

Valerie Burns, a longtime Fort Point resident, said the bridge restoration is of major importance to the neighborhood.

“We have been trying to save the bridge for a long time,” she said. “But we would have to see any plan that would include vehicular traffic before we could give our approval.”