Mind the barricades: Stretch of Beaufort’s Spanish Moss Trail to close for months
A section of the popular Spanish Moss Trail is about to close again as an $8 million water main installation project gets back on track in Beaufort after a materials shortage slowed work in the fall.
Beaufort Jasper Water and Sewer Authority (BJWSA) said Thursday that a section of the trail between Robert Smalls Parkway and North Street and North Hermitage Road will close beginning Monday.
Crews will begin pipe installation along the Spanish Moss Trail closest to Robert Smalls Parkway. That section of trail will remain closed until sometime this spring, said Rebecca Bowyer, BJWSA’s director of engineering.
The trail, listed among the Top 10 urban walking trails in the country by Outside Magazine, connects Beaufort and Port Royal.
Parts of the trail were originally closed for the work in October. However, because of delays in the shipping of pipe, the trail reopened just before Thanksgiving. Pipe delivery has resumed and will continue into next week.
Bowyer said people ignored the barricades on the trail when the work originally began. She’s urging residents to mind the closure this time around. “We don’t want to have any accidents,” she said.
The North Street Transmission Main Project consists of connecting existing water mains on Hamar Street and Robert Smalls Parkway with a 20-inch transmission main to help improve flow and pressure during daily demands and emergency situations.
The project, which will benefit 19,000 customers, is still on track to be completed by July, Bowyer said.
In other developments in the project, pipe has been horizontally drilled under Battery Creek and a western box culvert on the Spanish Moss Trail.
Keep up to speed
To follow the latest developments check BJWSA’s website where it posts regular updates.
The historic Magnolia Line Railroad, established in 1870, ceased operations in 2003, and in 2008, BJWSA acquired the right-of-way to use as a utility corridor. In January 2011, it granted a surface easement to Beaufort County to develop 14 miles of the corridor as a recreational trail called the Spanish Moss Trail. Since 2013, nearly 10 miles of the trail have been developed connecting Beaufort and Port Royal.
