Tired of a bumpy drive through Covington? The highway is set to be paved soon

The Highway 51 paving project in Covington is set to begin later this month.

A pre-construction meeting with Tennessee Department of Transportation officials outlined a timeline for resurfacing the 2.4 miles of Hwy. 51 between Winn Avenue and Hope Street, which runs north of Walmart to Walgreens.

“They’ll start putting up signage the last week of February,” said public works director David Gray. “And the concrete phase of it will start on March 2.”

During the concrete phase, he said, the five intersections with traffic lights will be brought up to ADA standards and dilapidated sidewalks will be repaired.

The pavement phase is scheduled to start the first week of April and end on July 31.

“Most of the work will be done from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m., at night, so we won’t have that much interference with traffic.”

The 2020-21 school year, and the traffic that comes with it, will begin Aug. 6.

Mayor Justin Hanson said he is so glad the project is finally getting done.

“We think it’s been about 15 years since it’s been repaved,” he said.