SARANAC LAKE — The village of Saranac Lake is preparing to embark on a significant construction project on Main Street’s infrastructure this spring, which will involve closing the road to install new sewer and stormwater lines under the street and removing the bricks beneath the road to get a smoother pavement.
A public informational meeting on the project is scheduled for Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the village board room on the second floor of the Harrietstown Town Hall.
PROJECT TIMELINE
Village Department of Public Works Superintendent Dustin Martin said he’s inviting businesses and the general public to this meeting, to let them know about the construction plans and discuss how it will go.
“I’m hoping to start in the middle of May at the latest and be done by the end of June, beginning of July,” Martin said.
During that time, both lanes of the downtown district road will be closed from the intersection of Main and River streets to the intersection of Main Street and Broadway for construction work during the day. One lane will potentially be open at night. Martin said there will be no parking along Main Street but that the sidewalks will be open for pedestrians.
The village municipal parking lots — the Sears lot on Main Street, the Pontiac lot on Broadway and the Dorsey Street lot — will be open for public parking.
The main difference residents will notice is in the repaving of the road. Currently, blacktop gets paved over the former brick street in that portion of town.
“The blacktop isn’t adhering to the bricks and it’s easier to peel up,” Martin said.
When the streets are plowed in the winter, the plows tear out chunks of the loose blacktop, leaving potholes with the exposed brick visible, according to Martin.
By removing the bricks, Martin said he hopes the blacktop will stick better. He’s wanted to replace them for a while.
PROJECT GOALS
Martin said the sewer line “definitely” needs to be upgraded, and the storm main has some newer sections and some older sections. He said the water line under the road is in good shape. It was installed relatively recently in 1998.
Martin said the village is doing all the work “in-house” through the DPW. He said this will cost around one-third of the price of what it would cost to contract out for the work, saving the village money. The DPW has 18 members, and they’ll tackle the project in phases, working in different crews.
The village will just be paying the cost of materials, which Martin estimated at $400,000.
This isn’t a huge project for the village — they’ve done plenty bigger — but Martin said the location right in the main shopping district adds challenges to this work. That’s what he’s hoping to address at Tuesday’s meeting. To RSVP for the meeting go to tinyurl.com/jv725kyh, and questions can be posed to 518-891-1990.