The county cleared this path and paved it with packed gravel, so they would have a peaceful place to hike and bike.

which of the following alternatives to the capitalized portion would not be acceptable?

a path, paving

b path and then paved

c path before paving

d path paved

looks alright to me

the present continuous is a verb tense which is mainly used to indicates that an action is in progress at the moment of speaking.  

it is formed using: person + verb to be (am/is/are) +verb + - ing form  

example: i am studying at this moment .

in addition, the present continuous is also used in order to express things that will or will not happen in the near future.

example: i am having dinner with some friends tonight.

the speaker sometimes   uses it   to express that an action is repeated and it causes irritation on the part of the speaker

example: my sister is constantly complaining about everything.

the whisper is the answer, hope this : )