The city has received a grant to undertake paving a section of Brookhaven’s major thoroughfare, Brookway Boulevard.

The grant award totals $565,600 with a required 20 percent match by the city. The grant-funded project aims to pave a stretch of Brookway Boulevard from Monticello Street to Brookway’s intersection with Highway 51.

Mayor Les Bumgarner was pleased to receive the grant, particularly given that he’s applied for it three or four years now.

“I think a lot of it is they want to see who’s persistent,” Bumgarner said.

The city previously received grant money after Hurricane Katrina to pave Brookway Boulevard from its intersection with Highway 51 to the Interstate 55 overpass, the mayor said.

This newest grant will extend that stretch of new pavement.

Bumgarner said he’s not sure when paving work will begin, but late summer might be possible.

The board of aldermen voted to activate the project at the board’s May 7 meeting. Department of Transportation procedures dictate the process by which the city may now proceed to contract.

Notice of the grant award arrived early in May from the Mississippi Transportation Commission. The grant funds come from a federal program.

Alderman at Large Karen Sullivan has seen an opportunity in the paving. In recent board meetings, she has suggested that bike lanes be added to the section of the road to be paved.

Sullivan applied for a Healthy Hometown grant and indicated that bikes lanes could aid the city should it re-apply for a Healthy Hometown grant.

Bumgarner indicated that he would investigate the viability of adding the lanes.