You plan a dinner at Mystic Grill, pull onto Clark Street the way you always do, and hit a barricade that wasn't there last month. So you double back, guess at a detour, and eventually park somewhere that used to be the wrong side of the block. If that sounds familiar, you're not imagining it. The construction around Covington's Square has been closing a different street every few weeks since June, and the block that's inconvenient today is rarely the one that was inconvenient in July.
That's the part most people miss. The Downtown Utility Relocation project isn't one long closure sitting in one place for two years. It's a rolling closure that walks around the nine-block perimeter of the Square, opening streets behind it as it goes. If you've been avoiding the same street since summer because that's where the cones were when you last drove through, there's a decent chance you've been avoiding a street that's already open.
The One Street That Isn't Moving
Almost everything about this project shifts, except one block. Hendricks Street between Usher and Clark closed on June 22, 2026, for staging, and the city has been clear that this stretch stays closed for the entire length of the project. Every other closure has come and gone in phases. Hendricks is the fixed point.
That distinction matters if you're trying to build a mental map of downtown right now. The rotating closures are temporary and worth checking before you drive. Hendricks is not temporary, and you can plan around it as a permanent detour until the project wraps.
Where the Closure Has Actually Been
Here's the sequence so far, and where things stand as of this week:
| Phase Started | Streets Affected | How Long | Status as of September 20, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 22, 2026 | Hendricks St, Usher to Clark | Entire project | Still closed |
| July 6, 2026 | Hunter St, Clark to just north of Usher; Usher St at the Judicial Center | About 8 weeks | Reopened August 31 |
| August 31, 2026 | Pace St, Clark to north of Usher; Usher St crossing Pace; Hays St, Clark to Usher (the block between Mystic Grill and the Historic Courthouse) | Estimated 2-3 weeks | Should be wrapping up now, with the next block likely opening soon |
That last line is the one worth sitting with. The city put the Pace and Hays Street closure at two to three weeks starting August 31, which puts the tail end of that phase right around now. If you're reading this in late September, there's a real chance the crews have already moved on to the next stretch of the perimeter by the time you finish this sentence. The practical habit isn't memorizing which street is closed today. It's checking before you leave the house, because the answer changes on its own schedule.
What Stays Open No Matter Which Block Is Closed
The city has been consistent on one point through every phase: downtown businesses stay open and reachable, and so do the Newton County Judicial Center, the Historic Courthouse, and the Administration Building. The construction affects streets and parking patterns, not whether you can get a table at Mystic Grill or pick up a to-go order.
During the current Pace and Hays Street phase, most of the parking lot behind Mystic Grill and Kuter's Cage has stayed open, which is the easiest fallback if you're not sure whether your usual approach is blocked. If you're walking into that stretch of downtown, the city's own guidance is to steer clear of the active work zone itself and follow the posted signage into the businesses, since the safest path in isn't always the most direct one.
Why This Is Taking as Long as It Is
The scope here is bigger than a repaving job. Crews are replacing aging sewer, water, and gas lines and installing new power and telecom duct bank underneath the Square, which is the kind of work that has to happen block by block rather than all at once. The Covington City Council approved a total project cost of $14.5 million in May 2026, well above the roughly $9 million originally estimated when the project was first scoped, and the timeline that came with that approval was 20 to 28 months of construction. Depending on where in that range the project lands, downtown Covington could be living with rotating closures into 2027 or even early 2028.
That's worth separating from a different conversation happening at the same time. The city has also been working through a broader Downtown Master Plan, the longer-range vision process that's looked at ideas like metered parking and more resident-focused retail near the Square. That planning work is not the same project as the utility relocation causing today's detours, and it's running on its own much slower timeline. If you've heard both mentioned and assumed they were connected, they're not. One is digging up pipes. The other is drawing up ideas for what comes after.
Before You Head Downtown
A few habits make this a lot less annoying:
- Check the closure status before you drive, not after you're already circling the block. The city updates its project page as phases change, and given the two to three week pace of the last transition, that information has a short shelf life.
- If you're unsure whether a street is passable, the lot behind Mystic Grill and Kuter's Cage has been a reliable fallback through the current phase.
- Walking is usually easier than driving through the affected blocks. Businesses inside the closure zone stay open, but the most direct driving route often isn't the one that's actually available.
- Remember that Hendricks Street between Usher and Clark is closed for the duration, not as part of the rotation. That one's not worth rechecking every time.
None of this changes what downtown Covington actually offers once you're standing on the Square. It just means the last quarter mile takes a little more attention than it used to, and that the attention needed shifts every few weeks rather than staying put.
If you've lived downtown long enough to remember when Usher Street was the problem, you already know how this goes. The construction moves. The Square underneath it, and the businesses that make it worth the detour, hasn't.
Whether you're settled in downtown Covington for the long haul or you're weighing what a home near the Square might mean for your daily routine, Lorraine Krieger has spent more than two decades getting to know these blocks, one phase of construction at a time. Reach out for a local market conversation whenever you're ready.
