Port Royal leaning into a $1.3M re-imagination of Paris Ave gateway. What will change?

A new look that’s been unveiled for a short but important section of Port Royal’s Paris Avenue is expected to showcase the town’s quaint downtown and spectacular environment while making it safer for pedestrians.

The vision for the beginning section of main street is already making a positive impression on town officials. They got a first look at the conceptual streetscape design during a work session Wednesday evening.

The highlight is a raised brick roadway — a first for the town — along 450 feet that passes a key attraction, Cypress Wetlands, a popular rookery where alligators and a wide variety of birds dwell, drawing locals and visitors in large numbers.

Last August, the town unveiled a $16 million vision for the remaking of Paris Avenue from Ribaut Road to 7th Street. It’s the main street through the old village portion of the town of 16,000, where streets are named after world capitals, leading to the waterfront on Battery Creek and through the downtown. The largest capital project the town has ever undertaken is meant to make main street more pedestrian-, bike- and golf cart-friendly. Major streetscape improvements and the burying of overhead power lines are part of the scope of the work.

The project, which will depend on available funding, will be completed in phases. The money to complete the project will come from a variety of sources including grants and possibly some portion of the penny tax that’s on the ballot for all county voters on this November’s general election.

But for now, the town is now focusing on the first phase and that involves 450 feet at the beginning of Paris Avenue near Cypress Wetlands. Josh Tiller of J.K. Tiller Associates, a Bluffton-based landscape architect, says that small section is very important to the overall plan because it serves as the gateway into Port Royal and will showcase the downtown and Cypress Wetlands.

Raised brick road planned

The plan calls for elevating that stretch of road with “brick pavers” and narrowing the lanes, Tiller says. The so-called raised traffic shelf will “calm” traffic,” he says. Embedded in the raised traffic table will be a large medallion with a theme that will relate in some fashion to the wetlands or the environment. “Something cool and coastal,” Tiller says. The raised roadway will also serve as natural crosswalk for the thousands of people visiting the wetlands and area businesses, Tiller said.

Trees, lighting and wider sidewalks also are planned, which will give more space for outdoor seating. Besides the natural crosswalk at the raised road, a second is planned in the vicinity of The Corner Perk coffee shop.

“It’s a great gateway into the town of Port Royal,” Michael Klink of Four Waters Engineering told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet.

The cost of the first phase is $1.3 million, which includes $200,000 in drainage improvements. The town received a $750,000 federal “streetscape” grant that will be put toward the work, Klink said.

The Town Council is expected to vote on the Paris Avenue streetscape improvement next Wednesday.

“It looks wonderful,” Councilmember Darryl Owens said. “I’m excited.”

If the conceptual design is approved, Tiller said, he’ll go to work on a detailed design. Klink hopes the project can be bid by February, with construction beginning a few months later.

Mayor Kevin Phillips described the redesign of Paris Avenue as “beautiful.” The improvements will revitalized the main street and make it safer, he said, but “now we need to think about funding.”

In the Nov. 5, election, a penny tax referendum will be on the ballot that, if approved, would raised $950 million for various projects across Beaufort County including $30 million for municipal infrastructure work in Port Royal, Beaufort and northern Beaufort County, or $10 million each. “Which is definitely what we are talking about here,” Phillips said.