This segment of state Route 86 will be closed from Sept. 11-16 as the state Department of Transportation replaces a culvert there. Most traffic between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid will be detoured down McKenzie Pond Road, which intersects with state Route 86 slightly to the right of the culvert construction blockage highlighted below. (Provided photo — Google Maps)

RAY BROOK — A section of state Route 86 between Lake Placid and Saranac Lake will be closed for a week starting on Sept. 11 as the state Department of Transportation replaces a large culvert over Little Ray Brook.

Motorists traveling between the villages will be rerouted via McKenzie Pond Road (county Route 33), which starts in Ray Brook at an intersection with Route 86 — just west of Tractor Supply Co. — and ends in Saranac Lake — at an intersection where it becomes Pine Street or turns down River Street.

The closure on Route 86 will be right around the work site, DOT Public Information Officer Bryan Viggiani said. It will begin west of the McKenzie Pond Road intersection and travel east, ending before it reaches the entrance road for the Adirondack Correctional state prison.

That means people will still have access to the Ray Brook Post Office, just west of the state prison’s entrance road, but they have to drive there from the Saranac Lake side. The Old Ray Brook Road (county Route 32) will remain open during the Route 86 closure, according to Essex County Department of Public Works Superintendent Jim Dougan, but the main detour will be along the McKenzie Pond Road.

The work is expected to begin at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11, and to last until Friday, Sept. 16, at 4 p.m.

Viggiani said that closing that section of the road entirely for a week, though inconvenient, will be much faster than partially closing the road to one lane and dragging the work out for days longer. He said DOT crews will be working 24/7 to get the replacement done as quickly as possible.

“We appreciate folks’ cooperation,” Viggiani said. “This is part of us doing this necessary work.”

He said the work is to to ensure the integrity of the culvert, which needs renewing.

“Motorists are urged to slow down and drive responsibly in work zones,” Viggiani wrote in an email. “Fines are doubled for speeding in a work zone. Convictions of two or more speeding violations in a work zone could result in the suspension of an individual’s driver license.”

He also reminded motorists to move over a lane, if safely possible, or slow down significantly whenever encountering roadside vehicles displaying red, white, blue, amber or green lights.

In the days before the work, the road will be temporarily reduced to a single lane at times, with flaggers directing traffic, as workers offload materials and equipment, Viggiani said.

For up-to-date travel information, the DOT says to call 511, visit www.511NY.org or download the free 511NY mobile app.