NATCHEZ — Construction on the St. Catherine Street Trails project is ahead of schedule, and the informational plaques will soon be installed.

Natchez Public Works Supervisor Justin Dollar said the sidewalks that make up the trail have been poured, and the finishing touches should be finished in the next few weeks.

“We had a July 12 date for completion, but it’s way ahead of schedule,” Dollar said. “It’s a matter now of going back and doing touchups, cleanup and dressing up.”

St. Catherine Street is part of the second phase of the Natchez Trails project, which began in 2010. The first phase completed trails along and beneath the Natchez bluff.

Work on the second phase began in November 2015, and is funded by an MDOT grant of about $600,000 and a city match of about $151,000.

The finishing touches include landscaping and installation of the informational panels along the trail, which stretches four-fifths of a mile along the historic St. Catherine Street.

The trail will interpret and share the history of the road, which still is a major entry point into downtown Natchez, Historic Natchez Foundation Director Mimi Miller said.

“St. Catherine was in a sense, if you were walking, on horseback or in a carriage, what Silver Street was to people arriving by water,” Miller said.

The trail includes the portion of St. Catherine Street from Forks of the Road slave market site to Zion Chapel AME Church, whose minister, Hiram Revels, became the first black congressman.

Miller said the 27 plaques to be installed along the trail would tell a compelling story.

Though some of the important sites that once stood on St. Catherine Street are gone, plaques will mark the places they once stood.

Other historic sites, such as Brumfield School and Holy Family Catholic Church, still stand.

“It tells the story of slavery to freedom,” Miller said. “(The plaques) tell the story of the most culturally diverse street in the city of Natchez.”