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By JOYANNA LOVE/ Managing Editor

Paving has been completed on Second Avenue in downtown Clanton, and crews are set to begin working on other downtown roads later this week.

Clanton Mayor Jeff Mims said work will start again Nov. 18 or 19.

This phase will include Sixth Street and First, Fifth and Third avenues.

Mims said once paving starts, it should be complete in a week and half. He said Sixth street will be easier to pave than Second Avenue was because it is wider and does not have the decorative sidewalks to maneuver around that Second Avenue does.

He said he would ensure that the paving did not get in the way of the Christmas parade on Dec. 3.

“I think, all in all, they have done a good job so far,” Mims said.

Second Avenue will need to be closed again to add the traffic striping. However, Mims said it would not be for as long as it was for paving, and some of the work could also likely be done at night when there is less traffic. A date for this is unknown at this time.

This week, paving is being done on 15th Street in the West End Community.

Paving has been completed on Liberty Street, the E.M. Henry walking track and a basketball court in the neighborhood.

All of these paving projects, plus the ones recently completed at Goose Pond Park, are expected to total a little over $880,000. Mims said the projects were being paid from the city’s general fund.

At Goose Pond, the track was repaved, and the gravel parking lot was paved.

Additional improvements to the park include converting the lighting to LEDs.

Mims said the Alabama Department of Transportation and Alabama Power have also worked out details to convert streetlights on Highway 31 to LED.