Beaufort, hospital team up for sidewalk, roadway improvements

Sidewalk improvements, access to the upcoming walking trail and landscaping are part of a joint effort by the city of Beaufort and Beaufort Memorial Hospital to improve the Allison and Ribaut roads intersection.
“We are pushing safety and pedestrian access throughout the city, but this partnership is especially important because of its key location to the medical campus,” Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling said.
In July, the Beaufort Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees unanimously approved inclusion of a 10-foot-wide, multi-use path and sidewalk and a seven-foot-wide landscaped area on Allison Road adjacent to hospital property.
The landscaped pathways will connect the hospital’s new Life-Fit and Administration building now under construction, with the main hospital campus and with the soon-to-be-built rail trail.
“We are pleased at the ability to partner with the city of Beaufort to connect the Beaufort Memorial Hospital campus to the new rail trail pathway and to work on making this intersection safer and more attractive,” said Jerry Schulze, chairman of the hospital’s Board of Trustees.
The Allison Road project accommodates most of the suggestions of the recently completed Sector 2 and 3 planning charrettes for recreational access undertaken by the city and community as part of the Beaufort Civic Master Planning process.
“We are delighted that the city and the hospital have agreed on how to enhance this key intersection and connect more people to the rail trail, both very important initiatives of the Civic Master Plan,” said Jon Verity, chairman of the Beaufort Redevelopment Commission.
Friends of the Spanish Moss Trail and the PATH Foundation out of Atlanta were also involved in the discussions with the hospital regarding opportunities to increase or enhance public access to the trail.
View the proposed plans at www.bmhsc.org or www.cityofbeaufort.org.