The Covington Public Works Department resurfaced a one-block section of Martin Street earlier this week, demonstrating the impact the City’s new 40-inch cold planer will have on future projects. The planer will allow the Public Works department to repave alleys in Covington and repair potholes.
“Drivers won’t even be able to feel where the patch was,” Public Works Director Chris Warneford said. “It’ll allow us to do fixes that are longer lasting, smoother, more efficient, and just better. This will be a big improvement over just dumping asphalt in a hole and tamping it down.”
Warneford is looking to working with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to address a stretch of torn-up pavement on Madison Pike north of Latonia Terrace.
This week the planer is being used to grind away old pavement on a one-block section of Martin between Scott Boulevard and Greenup Street, a several-day job that will turn the rough road into a smooth, quiet driving surface. The 40-inch planer is more than twice as wide as the 18-inch planer it replaces the Public Works department currently uses.
“It’s a lot quicker, and the wider path makes it easier to mill a street at an even depth all the way across,” said John Purnell, supervisor of the Department’s Right-of-Way Division.
Covington is tackling one side of the street at a time in order to keep them open to residents who live in that section of Martin, Purnell said. The process is expected to take a few days.
The street is 24 feet wide by 426 feet long. The new planer will be able to mill half the street in only three to four strips, although each strip will require more than one pass.
With the new layer of asphalt to be applied 2½ inches thick, and compressed to two inches, the job will require about 160 tons of asphalt worth about $13,000, Purnell said.
