Project is for 7.2 miles of County Road 4

Covington County residents will soon have a smoother ride after the commission approved an agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation to resurface 7.2 miles of County Road 4 from Highway 55 all the way to the intersection of Old Farm Road.

The agreement was approved at the county commission’s Wednesday morning meeting.

County Engineer Darren Capps said the total cost of the project is $1.3 million. The county’s match is $260,000.

Capps said the county gets money for projects every year in allocations.

“We initiated the money probably a year ago or so,” he said. “It takes a while to do your paper work.”

Capps said the resurfacing project should start in September after the contract and monies are finalized.

“We put down a layer of liquid asphalt rock, and it has to be done in the warm part of the year,” Capps said. “That’s why we wanted to hurry up and start it.”

Capps said after the layer of liquid is applied, workers will put rock all the way over the road.

“Then, they’ll level the spots that need leveling, where it’s kind of bumpy, and then they will put on a surface,” he said. “Then they’ll stripe it and pull the shoulders up. It’s very much needed.”

Capps said the project takes between two and three weeks to complete.

In other business, the commission:

• agreed to recommend to the ABC Board that Cypress Landing RV Park receive an alcohol license;

• approved a request from the Covington Area Transit System (CATS) to purchase a new vehicle;

• approved the election of James Longmire Sr., the reappointment of Virginia Brawner and the appointment of Tony Lee to the personnel review board;

• approved the nominations of Joe Bush, Kyle Gantt and Tony Lee to the board of equalization;

• approved a $5,000 raise for county administrator Karen Sowell’s salary after a six-month review; and,

• adopted a resolution for the Southeast Alabama regional multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan.