If you drive 204th Ave SE or cross SR-18 near SE 256th Street with any regularity, you already know the scene. Dump trucks. Grading equipment. A stretch of dirt that looks the same in September 2026 as it did two years ago, except for the trucks moving through it on a schedule only they seem to understand. Most residents who pass it daily have settled on a working theory: the city is slow, the road is behind schedule, and nobody can say when it's done.
That theory is half right, and the half that's wrong is the more interesting half. The road and the development sitting behind it are not the same project on the same clock. One of them is close to finished. The other one doesn't have a finish line yet, and the reason has nothing to do with permits or paperwork. It has to do with what happens to fresh asphalt when a dump truck rolls over it every few minutes.
Two Projects Wearing One Photo
The site itself has a longer history than the current construction suggests. Before it was called Lakepointe, it was a gravel mine and asphalt batch plant that had operated there since the 1970s. That's the "Hawk property," the land Oakpointe Communities began assembling for what the city now calls the Lakepointe Urban Village, in partnership with Toll Brothers and Brookfield Properties. The plan calls for a 20-acre manmade lake, a mix of housing, and enough commercial space that the number itself has shifted depending on which planning document you read. Earlier city materials pegged retail at roughly 850,000 square feet; the current overview on the city's Lakepointe page puts it at 1.32 million square feet, with more than 1,700 residential units. That's not a typo or a mistake. It's what a fifteen-year master plan looks like when it keeps growing while it sits in permitting and construction.
Running alongside that private development is a separate, public infrastructure project called the Covington Connector, which is what's actually widening and reconstructing 204th Ave SE. The two projects share the same stretch of road because the Connector was designed specifically to give Lakepointe an exit onto SR-18. But they are funded differently, built by different contractors, and finished on different timelines. The Connector is a $24 million project backed by state transportation dollars. Lakepointe's earthwork is being handled separately by Goodfellow Bros., whose current hauling and grading contract runs through the summer of 2027. That's a full year past where most residents assume the whole mess wraps up.
What's Actually Done
Strip away the parts still in motion and the finished list is longer than it feels from the driver's seat:
- The signalized intersection at 204th Ave SE and SR 516, the first phase of the Connector, is complete.
- The Jenkins Creek segment finished its roadway construction in October 2024. What's left there is a fish-passable culvert and some environmental restoration work, expected to wrap by summer 2026.
- The widening of SR 516 between 185th Place SE and 192nd Ave SE is under construction now, targeted for completion this fall.
That's three separate pieces of public roadwork either done or on a real fall 2026 deadline. If your mental image of this project is "nothing has happened," that image is out of date.
The One Piece Everyone's Actually Waiting On
The remaining hold-up is Lakepointe Blvd, the segment that runs through the development site itself and connects to the SR-18 roundabouts. Back in May 2025, city staff told council that paving on that section was about to begin, though the actual opening date was still "to be determined." That uncertainty hasn't fully resolved. As of the city's own July 2026 project update, construction on the public portion of that phase is nearly complete, with the final lift of paving scheduled for this fall. But the developer-driven section right next to it is being held back on purpose. The final asphalt lift there is being delayed specifically because heavy trucks hauling fill for the Lakepointe site would damage brand-new pavement before it's had a chance to cure.
In other words, the city isn't behind. It's protecting the last stretch of road from the same construction traffic that's still finishing the development it was built to serve. That's a small distinction with a real consequence for anyone timing their commute around "when this is finally done." The road segment itself could be substantially complete this fall. The reason you might not notice a difference is that the trucks building the neighborhood next door are still running.
Why the Dirt Keeps Moving
The scale of that hauling operation is worth sitting with for a second, because it explains why this has taken so long and why it isn't close to over. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources oversees a Surface Mine Reclamation Permit tied to the old gravel operation, and the fill activity on site is governed by that permit rather than a simple construction schedule. According to the city's own construction updates, the operation has been importing an average of roughly 1,800 cubic yards of dirt per day on active days. At that pace, filling a 200-acre former quarry to the grade needed for a 20-acre lake and more than a thousand housing units isn't a weekend project. It's the kind of work that gets measured in years, which lines up with Goodfellow Bros.' own contract running through summer 2027.
None of this means Lakepointe is stalled. It means the visible part of the project, the part everyone associates with "when will this be done," is really two different countdowns running at different speeds. The public road is close. The private site behind it has another year of dirt to move before the buildings most people picture ever go into the ground.
Life Keeps Happening Around It
None of this has put a pause on the rest of Covington's calendar, which is worth remembering the next time you're stuck behind a gravel truck on 204th. Town Center Lawn, a few minutes from the construction, still has its usual fall lineup. A drive-in movie night featuring Wicked: For Good is set for September 25, and the 14th Annual Harvest Boutique Vendor Fair takes over Kentwood High School on October 3. Covington's civic rhythm hasn't been waiting on Lakepointe to finish, and it isn't going to. The dirt pile is a fixture of the drive, not a hold on the town.
What's actually true, if you've been assuming the whole project is one long delay, is narrower and more useful than that: the road the city controls is close to done, on a schedule you can find in black and white on the city's own site. The site the developer controls is still years out, and the two are only tangled together because they happen to share an intersection. Knowing which one you're actually waiting on is the difference between frustration and just knowing what to expect.
If you're watching this corner of Covington for reasons that go beyond your commute, whether that's curiosity about how the neighborhood is changing or a longer-term interest in what gets built here, the Laura Papritz Team tracks these local shifts as part of how we serve buyers and sellers across Covington and the rest of South King County. If you'd like a clearer read on how developments like Lakepointe factor into home values nearby, start with a free, no-pressure home valuation and we'll walk you through what we're seeing on the ground.
