Brick potholes like this on Main Street in Saranac Lake pop up every winter when plows tear out chunks of loose blacktop from the century-old brick streets they conceal. The village’s spring construction plans for Main Street include removing the bricks to stop this from happening, and will also come with a lengthy road closure. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

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 more-than-a-century-old bricks beneath the road to get a smoother pavement.

At a public informational meeting on the project Tuesday morning, village Department of Public Works Superintendent Dustin Martin said he wants to start as soon as possible so the construction can end before the Fourth of July.

“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. Community Development Director Katrina Glynn said they are closing both lanes of traffic to expedite the project — it’s more inconvenient, but for a shorter time.

There will be detours onto Dorsey Street and Church Street. One lane of Main Street will potentially be open at night and on weekends, with one-way signs. Martin said there will be no parking along Main Street but that the sidewalks will be open for pedestrians.

“Downtown is going to be a little bit of a mess this summer, but once it’s done, hopefully we don’t have to come back and touch it for the rest of my career,” Martin said.

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.

“I’m going to try to accommodate businesses as much as possible,” he said.

He said tractor trailers can go down Dorsey Street to make deliveries to the back of Main Street businesses. Because that street is so tight, shop owners suggested closing parking on Dorsey Street during the day. Martin said he’ll also accommodate emergency vehicles on Main Street if needed.

Village Trustee Matt Scollin pointed out that there are parades which usually use Main Street during that time span — Tri-Lakes Pride on June 30 and a Memorial Day parade.

The village municipal parking lots — the Sears lot on Main Street, the Pontiac lot on Broadway, the Dorsey Street lot and the Main Street lot next to the police station — 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. Martin said Main Street “desperately” needs to be redone. They pave it often, but it never lasts.

“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. The bricks are holding up well, he said, but they can’t hold blacktop for long.

Martin believes there might actually be two layers of brick road on Main Street. The brick sub-surfaces have already been removed in portions of downtown Saranac Lake. After Main Street is finished, Martin said the only bricks left will be under the intersection of Main Street and River Street next to the town hall, which is the state Department of Transportation’s domain.

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. Martin said he’s confident in his employees’ ability to crank through this work and get it done fast. They are contracting out only for the final paving, so that’s the only thing he’s worried about.

The village will just be paying the cost of materials, which Martin estimated at $400,000. He said the village has bought the materials in the past, and this project doesn’t include any additional spending in the 2024-25 budget that the village is currently developing.

Rice Furniture co-owner Clyde Baker asked for better communication through this project. Planning for this work started in the fall, but Main Street business owners learned about it a day before the public meeting, and it felt sprung on them.

Martin said the village plans to hold more of these public meetings throughout this project, and might schedule one for the evening, to fit people’s schedules better. He also recommended anyone interested sign up for the village’s Nixle alert program at tinyurl.com/yc2ez8rs. Questions on the project can be posed to 518-891-1990.

Martin said they also plan to replace a portion of the sidewalk in front of Compass Printing.

He said there shouldn’t be any interruption to sewage or water services. If water laterals found during construction are crumbling or made of lead, they will remove and and replace them. This would impact the sidewalks and water service for that building, so Martin said he hopes they don’t have to do this.

If there’s enough resources, Martin said they may also pave the section of Main Street from Church Street to Broadway in front of the library, and the portion of Broadway from Woodruff Street to the intersection with Main Street.