FLORENCE –The City of Florence Mayor Betterton, City of Florence Council, and Florence Planning and Community Development are pleased to receive the Excellence in Planning & Public Spaces Award from Alabama Main Street.
The latest phase of the Downtown Streetscape program, completed in May 2021, revitalized E. Tennessee St. from Poplar to Chestnut St and E. College St from Cherry to Poplar with a total project cost of $2,874,361.65. The project finished planned improvements for E. Tennessee Street and improvements included:
- New sidewalks, lighting, and crosswalks for safer pedestrian connections
- New green infrastructure and traffic calming through extensive landscaping
- Additional reconfigured public parking
- New traffic signals for better traffic flow
“Our Downtown Streetscape program serves to advance pedestrian priority, create economic development opportunities, enhance existing private investment, and grow the City’s green infrastructure stock. It is more than aesthetics. Each completed phase has correlated to an increase in building occupancy and significant private investment,” explains Florence Planning Director Melissa Bailey.
Creating a beautiful, functional, safe public space is just the beginning of the project benefits. New development and redevelopment of this area have included: Taco Mama, Fashion Exchange, Rich Broke Boutique, Farmers Insurance, and the Hidden Treasures building.
Council President Dick Jordan details the history and future of city revitalization, saying, “Streetscape in Florence originally began on Court Street in 1996 and has tremendously improved the aesthetics of our downtown. Working with our Florence Planning Department, our downtown has become a model for the state. Our City is a nice area to eat, shop, work, and live. We hope to continue our Downtown Streetscape program along other corridors of Seminary St., Walnut St., and E. College St.”
Media Release/Rachel Mansell/City of Florence
