The City of Covington will continue another section of the City’s major water line improvement project this month, resulting in the temporary closure of a sidewalk along Jackson Highway from Town Branch Court north to Pennington Street.

The improvement consists of replacing 1,400 feet of cast iron water pipe with ductile iron pipe, a necessary improvement expected to last 75 to 100 years. The line in need of replacement is approximately 75 years old.

To replace the necessary length of water line, 1,300 feet of sidewalk must be demolished and replaced because it is much cheaper to relocate the existing old line from under the road to under the sidewalk.

“This will unfortunately be an inconvenience for pedestrian traffic travelling along Jackson Highway,” said City Manager Leigh Anne Knight. “The alternative to closing the sidewalk would be disrupting vehicular traffic with road closures and an increased price tag for the project.”

If city officials opted not to demolish the sidewalk to replace the water line, Jackson Highway would have to be ‘open-cut’ resulting in the road closure and $20,000 in additional expenses.

“Citizens can anticipate a sidewalk closure date of March 30, 2015,” Knight said. “Our goal is to have the water line replaced and a new sidewalk in place by May 11, 2015 or sooner.”

The sidewalk in place is aging and the water line replacement provides city engineers a good opportunity to replace it.

“This 1,400 feet of water line is a segment in phase one of a four phase multimillion dollar infrastructure improvement project that we are undertaking to not only increase capacity and reduce water loss but to also provide cleaner water for the citizens,” said Water Department Technician Brian Yoder. “The existing sidewalk had several trip hazards and was uneven in places. This is the perfect opportunity to update the sidewalk and make it safer for citizens.”