Port Royal manager endured 10-year saga to get sidewalk built. Now it bears his name
Port Royal is thanking its town manager in an unusual way for his service battling red tape for 10 years to get a simple sidewalk constructed in front of Naval Hospital Beaufort.
When town officials gathered earlier this month on Old Shell Road to celebrate the new sidewalk, Councilman Jorge Guerrero pulled a plastic bag off of a post with a marker on top.
The sign said: “Willis Way.”
Town Manager Van Willis appeared shocked, then laughed. The sign was a medal of honor of sorts for continuing to push for a sidewalk that seemed to get lost in military bureaucracy.
“Van Willis has stuck with this thing throughout,” Guerrero said.
The project might have seemed like small potatoes. It was just 400 yards of sidewalk on Old Shell and Ribaut roads.
But its location alongside a security fence surrounding the Naval Hospital Beaufort, run by the Department of Defense, brought years of complications. Updates on the progress or lack thereof became kind of a standing joke at Town Council meetings.
Town officials wanted sidewalk replaced
Town officials wanted the crumbling and uneven sidewalk replaced because pedestrians use the route to get from the town to the McTeer bridge, which allows them to cross the Beaufort River and return.
“It represents their safety,” Mayor Kevin Phillips said at a recent ribbon cutting. “It represents their lives. And it represents their quality of life.”
The South Carolina Department of Transportation oversaw the $300,000 job, which began this fall. The work is now finished.
A Port Royal sidewalk 10 years in the making
Verbiage on the sign generously describes the headaches Willis and the town endured in getting the sidewalk built as a “decade-long collaboration led by Town Manager Van Willis in partnership with The Department of Defense, SCDOT and the town of Port Royal.”
Willis noted the sidewalk was first proposed it in 2015. Over the years, he said, there were brick walls and multiple changes of command to deal with but in the end everybody came together.
“My hair was a lot darker then,” Willis said. “I was a lot thinner, maybe a little better looking.”
Long-time resident Greg Shelton suggested erecting the marker to recognize Willis efforts. It stands on Old Shell Road, across from Naval Heritage Park.
“That’s hilarious,” Mayor Phillips said at the sign’s surprise unveiling. “Love it.”
