SARANAC LAKE — A portion of Broadway will be temporarily closed to vehicle traffic for construction today.

The section of Broadway impacted by this closure stretches from its intersection with Main Street to its intersection with Woodruff Street, according to village Department of Public Works Superintendent Dustin Martin. Work will last from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, according to Martin, and motorists will need to take a detour to cross town during that time.

The road is closing to allow contractors to complete the water and sewer connections to the new public restrooms being built in the Pontiac Parking lot by Berkeley Green, which are being funded through the village’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative award it got in 2018.

In an alert from the village through its Nixle emergency alert system, village Manager Erik Stender said the village advises people to avoid the Berkley Green intersection.

The sidewalk on the western side of the road — across from Berkeley Green — will remain open to foot traffic.

“We apologize for the inconvenience. And thank you for your patience,” the alert reads.

If people have any questions regarding the road closure, they can call the DPW office at 518-891-4160.

To sign up for the village’s alerts through the Nixle software, go to https://bit.ly/3AjRowN.

In a village board meeting on Monday, some nearby business owners attended to ask why construction at the parking lot essential to their businesses has stalled for almost two weeks. Stender explained that when crews were digging down to create the foundation for the new bathroom building, they found a pile of rubble, the remnants of the Pontiac Theatre, which burned down years ago at the site where the parking lot now is.

“After the fire, they just threw that building into the hole and paved over it,” Stender said.

“Sounds like what I would do,” Goody Goody’s toy store owner Dan Sporn said with a laugh.