A culvert replacement that would close both lanes of state Route 73 between Keene and Keene Valley is being postponed from this week to next, the state Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.

A half-mile segment of the busy two-lane highway would be closed between state Route 9N (Spruce Hill) and the southern end of Hulls Falls Road (Essex County Route 13A) toward the hamlet of Keene Valley. The closure was scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday of this week but is now moved to Tuesday through Thursday of next week, Aug. 11 to 13.

The reason is a delay in getting pipe for the culvert delivered, according to DOT Region 1 spokesperson Bryan Viggiani.

During the three-day closure, motorists on Route 73 between the Interstate 87 and the hamlet of Keene will be detoured through Elizabethtown on U.S. Route 9 and Route 9N.

Preliminary work on the culvert replacement began Monday, and the entire project is expected to be completed by Aug. 21, the DOT said. Apart from the three-day full closure, the DOT warned motorists to watch for periodic lane and shoulder closures with flaggers on this stretch of Route 73.

That delay doesn’t change a repaving project this week on Route 73, but weather does.

On Monday the DOT started repaving a 1.8-mile stretch of the road between the Route 9 turnoff (colloquially known as “Malfunction Junction”) and the Round Pond trailhead south of Chapel Pond. However, no paving took place Tuesday due to rain.

“We will monitor both the weather and traffic conditions this week and may adjust work accordingly if necessary,” Viggiani said. “If weather impacts the paving the rest of this week, it could continue early next week.”

The paving project will not close the two-lane highway completely but will allow alternating one-lane traffic controlled by flaggers.