A lift and caution tape are seen at the Saranac Lake Union Depot in the village of Saranac Lake on Sunday. Exterior painting is slated to detour the Adirondack Rail Trail, which runs behind the building, through an adjacent parking lot through Thursday. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

SARANAC LAKE — An approximate 450-foot section of the Adirondack Rail Trail that runs by the Saranac Lake Union Depot will be closed through Thursday.

A detour route that goes through an adjacent parking lot north of the former train station is in place during the closure.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation announced the temporary closure midday Saturday. A DEC contractor will be painting and doing some lead paint remediation on the depot’s north side.

“Necessary lift equipment will be on site,” the DEC wrote in a statement. “The closure is required to ensure public safety while the contractor works on that side of the station.”

During the closure, signs and safety tape will clearly mark the closed area and direct rail trail traffic to the detour. Adirondack Rail Trail Association Executive Director Julia Goren said the detour just runs the length of that parking lot, which has pre-existing paved routes connecting it to the rail trail.

“I would expect some impacts to parking,” she said. “People should be more careful because there will be pedestrians, bicyclists, etc., going through the parking lot and then the lift equipment will take up parking on the other side.”

With no precipitation expected through Thursday, Goren anticipated the painting project would wrap up by its announced deadline.

Floodwood to Tupper Lake

The third and final segment of trail construction — from its intersection with Floodwood Road in the town of Santa Clara west to Tupper Lake — is slated to officially wrap up soon.

“We’re all in the same position of anxiously awaiting this,” Goren said. “I am optimistic that it’s going to be really soon, like this week. But until the DEC says it’s open or this is our ribbon-cutting date, we’re all in the same waiting game.”

She was unsure if there was still construction taking place on the trail, but said the last step of the process before opening it to ensure the trail is safe, and that during that time, the DEC has asked people to stay off of the Floodwood to Tupper Lake portion of the trail.

Once it’s open, Goren said that there will still likely be some ongoing minor work by contractors and volunteers, such as installing mileage markers, and that people should be aware of that before heading out.

“People should expect, even once it’s open, to see construction equipment on the trail and have the occasional closure of a part or minor delays,” she said. “That’s going to go on for a bit longer as the contractors finish up the last few things.”

Goren said that during the last 12 months, there have been about 160,000 “passes” on the trail between Floodwood Road and Lake Placid. These aren’t unique users. Rather, each time someone passes by automated trail counters, a pass is recorded and added to the tally. Goren said that Aug. 30, the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, was the busiest single-day use during the 12-month period.

“Last year, fall was the busiest period in terms of the usage numbers, both overall and peak numbers,” she said. “And all of the trends this year are higher than last year.”