Port Royal unveils $16 million Paris Avenue streetscape plan with added parking, raised crosswalks

Port Royal officials and consultants on June 5 presented a preliminary master plan for Paris Avenue that would remake roughly 3,900 feet (about 0.75 miles) of downtown roadway with narrower travel lanes, raised crosswalks, expanded sidewalks and more on-street parking.

Michael Clink, a project presenter, said the team developed "a preliminary master plan for Paris Avenue, which is approximately 3,900 feet, which is 0.75 miles," and described an outreach process that included staff review meetings and a public open house to incorporate community comments.

The plan emphasizes pedestrian safety and business activity: travel lanes would shrink to about 10 feet to calm speeds, the design would add raised tables and dedicated crosswalks (including at school crossings and Corner Park), and it would reconfigure parking to reduce lane encroachment. Consultants reported 287 on-street spaces now, of which 87 meet the town's current standard; the concept would provide about 312 compliant spaces by repurposing some areas to angled or parallel parking and adding small supplemental lots.

Landscape and street-amenity details accompany the roadway work. Josh Tiller, the landscape architect, said the team favors live oaks and understory trees where canopy exists, palm trees in tight-right-of-way areas, tree grates for narrow sidewalks and a Maglin 1200-series look for benches, bike racks and trash receptacles. Designers also proposed pedestrian-scaled pavers and ribbon concrete at key crossings as part of a consistent aesthetic.

Staff discussed utilities and drainage constraints. The conceptual design notes limited gravity sewer capacity on parts of Paris Avenue and flagged coordination on potential water-main upsizing with county utilities. The corridor is within FEMA's Flood Zone X for most of the route; drainage tie-ins from adjacent properties were included in the plan.

On cost and funding, consultants presented a 30%-design level estimate of roughly $16,000,000 to complete the streetscape work. "Bottom line is roughly $16,000,000 to do all the improvements with the power being about $4,500,000," the consultant said, noting that placing power underground is one of the single largest drivers of cost. Staff recommended pursuing a mix of grants (including federal or state transportation and CDBG programs), redevelopment-district incentives, business improvement options and possible municipal shares from the upcoming transportation referendum.

Council members asked about signal timing, library-area crossings, delivery truck conflicts and the visual match of new streetlights with existing fixtures. Staff said the plan is at a conceptual level and that final design, cost refinements and grant pursuit would follow. The council did not vote on the plan; staff said next steps are to refine the design, identify funding sources and return with contract and funding requests in subsequent meetings.