Finally! After 9 years, Port Royal gets a $300K sidewalk near the Naval Hospital
The wheels of government spin slowly. Especially near a military installation. The town of Port Royal discovered that when it decided it wanted to reconstruct 400 yards of sidewalk in front of the Naval Hospital in 2016, when Barack Obama was president.
Better late than never, Port Royal is finally getting its sidewalk in October 2025. Work began earlier this month.
“We’re excited,” Town Manager Van Willis said this week. “We’ve been waiting 9 years for this project.”
Over the years, the sidewalk project spurred frustration and became fodder for jokes at town council meetings when Willis would provide another update. Willis once opined that the work seemed caught up in “some sort of perpetual bureaucratic spin.”
The new sidewalk in front of the Naval Hospital Beaufort will bring a wider, safer path for pedestrians along Ribaut and Old Shell roads.
Improving what amounted to a rutted, overgrown path was important to the town not only because of its poor condition but also because of its prominent location. The stretch connects to the Naval Heritage Park, home to the town’s skateboard park and the historic Pinckney Porter’s Chapel, a historic local Black church that also serves as home base for tours of historic Camp Saxton, which was established to train Black soldiers in 1862.
The other end connects to the McTeer Bridge to Lady’s Island.
But the location adjacent to the fence line of a Department of Navy facility brought complications. Not only did commands regularly change, but relocating the fence line was necessary so the South Carolina Department of Transportation could build the sidewalk properly. Those factors apparently led to the delays that frustrated the town.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Willis said in 2022, “it has taken this long to put in this itty-bitty bit of sidewalk.”
This week, with construction underway, Willis sounded a more conciliatory tone, saying, “Relocating the fence was obviously a challenge for them because they have safety issues and we understand.”
The Navy said previously the issue was not as simple as it may have seemed because it involved moving a security fence and altering the boundary of the installation in order for the work to proceed.
The existing fence at the Naval Hospital is being replaced, said Hannah Robinson, a spokeswoman for the South Carolina Department of Transportation, which is handling the work.
Additionally, the sidewalk in front of the new fence is being widened to 4 feet. A 2-foot curb and gutter and an ADA-compliant ramp are also part of the work.
The anticipated cost is $312,399, and the project is federally funded, Robinson said. Construction is set to be completed by the end of October.
This story was originally published October 3, 2025 at 12:21 PM.
