Extension of Spanish Moss Trail across Ribaut Road in Port Royal OK’d. ‘This is a big deal’
The Spanish Moss Trail finally will cross Ribaut Road in Port Royal.
For years, advocates have pushed for a safe Ribaut crossing for the popular pedestrian and bicycle path. And once the new crossing is constructed, future extensions are possible that are needed to reach the town’s downtown amenities, including Sands Beach.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) issued a construction permit for the long-awaited crossing Monday, according to Friends of the Spanish Moss Trail, a not-for-profit that advocates for improvements. The crossing is part of a larger half-mile extension of the trail.
The work is expected to be performed this summer.
The current trail ends at Smilax Road, about 100 yards northwest of Ribaut Road. A half-mile of new trail will be constructed from that point to Ritter Circle on the southeast side of Ribuat Road. The project includes building a pedestrian controlled stop light system near Martin Landscaping and Pender Brothers, a plumbing, welding and heating and cooling company, that will allow people to safely cross from the northwest side of Ribaut Road to the southeast side.
Unlike other traffic signals, the light, called the Hawk system, will only operate when a pedestrian pushes the crossing button.
The estimated cost of the work is about $650,000 with the pedestrian crossing at Ribaut driving up the cost, Moss said. Construction is being funded by state accommodation taxes issued through Beaufort County ($125,000), a state grant secured by Rep. Shannon Erickson ($200,000), the town of Port Royal ($200,000) and Friends of the Spanish Moss Trail ($100,000).
The Beaufort County Engineering Department will oversee the bidding and construction of the project, Friends of the Spanish Moss Trail said.
Many Port Royal residents have backed the project because it will be another means of slowing traffic on busy Ribaut, said Dean Moss, the executive director of the Friends of the Spanish Moss Trail.
“You will kind of break the stride of those drivers coming from Parris Island,” Moss said.
Friends of Spanish Moss Trail has been working on the Port Royal crossing for five years, Moss said.
One reason it took so long is because of the impact that the crossing will have on traffic from the Russell Bell Bridge and trucks from the nearby businesses, Moss said. “There was a certain amount of engineering complexity that had to be wrestled through,” Moss said.
Friends of the Spanish Moss Trail and Port Royal are now working with Safe Harbor Marinas, the developer of the former State Ports Authority property, to continue the trail through the waterfront property toward Shellring Ale Works and Fishcamp restaurants and eventually to its termination at Sands Beach, Moss said.
“This is a big deal,” Moss said of the Ribaut Road crossing. “Once we get into Port Royal, it’s a piece at a time to get to the Sands (Beach).”
Passing through neighborhoods in Beaufort and Port Royal and surrounded by live oak trees and marshes and Battery Creek, the Spanish Moss Trail attracts 100,000 residents and visitors annually. The 12-foot-wide, paved trail, which follows railroad right-of-way, is 20 miles round trip. In 2020, Outside Magazine named it one of the top 10 urban walking trails in the country.
This story was originally published April 18, 2023 at 1:53 PM.
