NORWICH – The Chenango County Department of Public Works will begin making repairs to County Route 32, East River Road, between Norwich and North Norwich in the coming weeks.

The road runs parallel to State Highway 12 and is a heavily used road, said county officials. This section of roadway suffered a greater degree of recent degradation from the changing seasons and weather, leaving a number of potholes and cracks along the mostly 55 mile-per-hour road.

Crews have been out to the road several times in recent weeks, closing parts of it to conduct temporary repairs to the worst of the damage.

Chenango Department of Public Works Administrative Assistant Sue Alger said the county hired a private contractor, the Suit-Kote Corporation, to help crews with the work. The company is a municipal contractor that provides costly specialized equipment.

The county will be using a recycling asphalt machine from the company to remove all of East River Road’s blacktop between the intersection of Rt. 320 in Norwich and State Rt. 12 in North Norwich. The machine will break the road up and then reapply it as a new surface, explained Alger.

The project may occasionally close traffic along the road at certain points and one lane of traffic during much of the work is likely.

Work will begin May 9 and is expected to take about three weeks.