A contractor for the City of Covington started tearing up the brick pavers at two MainStrasse Village intersections today – not to replace them, but to reset and level them.
The pavers – on Philadelphia Street at Sixth Street and on Sixth Street at Bakewell Street – have shifted and sunk over the years, creating an uneven driving surface, Public Works Director Keith Bales said.
“By resetting and reusing the existing brick as much as possible, we will preserve the historical look even as we fix the street,” Bales said.
The project is part of the City’s annual concrete maintenance contract, which this year is held by Hendy Inc. The Sixth Street work will include related concrete fixes needed for safety reasons in the area.
It’s the third project undertaken by Hendy as part of the $593,100 contract approved by the Covington Board of Commissioners at its Nov. 15, 2022, meeting.
Previous projects included new curbs on Tibbatts Street in Latonia and an ADA curb ramp in front of St. Augustine Church on 19th Street in Peaselburg.
The annual work includes street repairs, ADA curb ramps, curb replacements, paver work, and other concrete work that pops up during the year.
Called a maintenance contract, the annual work isn’t the complete total of what Covington invests in fixing that kind of infrastructure in the city. It’s meant to provide “a relief valve” to handle work that the Public Works Department can’t get to in a timely fashion or that would take longer for a particular job.
“Whereas they can throw five to six people at any given project, we might have only one to two people available,” Assistant Public Works Director Bill Matteoli said. “So some of these projects would take us a lot longer than it would take them. But on any given day, our Right of Way crews are out there doing similar work.”
City of Covington
I’m glad they are repairing the street and keeping the historic bricks. They need to address the concrete paver sidewalks on Main Street between 6th and 7th, as well. Some of these sections are extremely dangerous. Sooner or later a little old lady or man is going to fall and have a serious injury. It’s common knowledge, so I think the City may have a lawsuit waiting to happen. They wouldn’t have to close the whole street. Work in front of one business at a time to eliminate the negative impact to the shopkeepers in the Village.
Another issue is the encroachment of the table and chairs onto the sidewalks of Main Street. The American Disabilities Act, requires adequate space for a wheelchaired individual to pass by unobstructed. Maybe the City could have inspectors check out the spacing occasionally.