The unused railroad crossings in Covington will not begin to be paved over until April, city Transportation Manager Billy Skinner said last week.

Covington officials had originally hoped the 23 street crossings of the Norfolk Southern rail line would be paved over by February, but the paperwork took longer to process than expected.

The city does not have the equipment to handle the paving, so the project will have to be bid out. Skinner said he would not have a cost estimate until the crossings had been measured, which was planned to start last week. Each crossing has unique measurements he said.

The city may be able to contract with the county to pave the crossings.
In addition, the city is working with the Georgia Department of Transportation, which may pave over the railroad crossings of U.S. Highway 278 and Ga. Highway 81.

Once the tracks have been paved over, the city council will then vote to remove any or all of the 23 stop signs located at crossings. Any stop signs that are removed will have to be replaced with a "Tracks Out of Service" sign. Mayor Kim Carter said previously that some stop signs might not be removed if they are needed for traffic calming.

County Chairman Kathy Morgan said previously that the signs in the county will remain up until Norfolk Southern either officially abandons the rail line or discontinues service, because of legal and liability concerns.