The latest streetscape project underway in downtown Spartanburg is Daniel Morgan Avenue between St. John St. and Henry St. If you haven’t been by lately, you should walk down there because it feels like a completely new place! The redesign includes critical elements for a pedestrian-friendly corridor – extra wide sidewalks, trees and plantings, on-street parking, pedestrian-scale lighting, and adjacent store fronts.

Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America One Step at a Time, writes "And what we're trying to create is pedestrians by choice. And what that means is that the walk has to truly be useful, it has to be safe, it has to be comfortable, and it has to be interesting. ... Useful means essentially having the proper balance of use in your communities."

The redesign of Daniel Morgan Avenue, and other downtown streets, has and will continue to transform the way people visit our central business district. And the result will be felt on many fronts – more visitors to retail and dining destinations, better health for those out walking and enjoying the beauty of downtown, better civil engagement because of increased interactions, a greater sense of community pride as our community supports its small business owners.

I expect that the empty storefronts on that stretch won’t be vacant for long after the construction concludes because it will be a space that begins to thrive.

Thank you to our City of Spartanburg leadership for your commitment to a pedestrian-friendly downtown.