An Essex County Public Transportation bus drives through the Wilmington Notch on state Route 86 in September 2019, with Whiteface Mountain the background. (Enterprise photo — Andy Flynn)

WILMINGTON — The state Department of Transportation plans to restart drainage repairs on a portion of state Route 86 — the Wilmington Notch — starting on Monday, May 16.

Traffic will be reduced to single, alternating lanes of traffic in the Route 86 work zone, according to an email from NYSDOT Assistant Engineer Daniel Miles. Two flaggers will control traffic during work operations while work is actively being done, and traffic will return to two lanes anytime work is paused.

The project will eventually require some nighttime road closures, Miles wrote, though he said the dates of those closures would depend on how repairs progress.

At certain nights from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., the strip of Route 86 between county Route 21, or River Road, and the High Falls Gorge Cafe and gift shop will be closed. Traffic will be redirected to a signed detour that uses state Route 73 to Keene, Route 9N to Jay and Route 86 to Wilmington. Miles wrote that he would send out an updated notification about when those closures would be at a later date.