Foley, Ala. — (OBA) — North Chicago Street and the new stretch of East Jessamine Avenue are now open in Foley. These roads are part of the latest upgrades to Heritage Park. The improvements aim to make the downtown area more walkable. The new additions are designed to connect key parts of the city more easily.

The city officially opened the new sections on Friday, after about nine months of construction. Mayor Ralph Hellmich said the changes improve pedestrian access across much of downtown Foley.

“We’ve added a sidewalk that connects City Hall all the way to our middle school. This path goes straight through the center of the park,” Hellmich said.

“The clock tower here is the nexus of the park. So we have sidewalks that go north and south and east and west, very symmetrical. This eastern boundary is now beautified to match all of the other directions of our park,” Hellmich said. 

He said city departments and elected officials worked together to plan and complete the project.

“This isn’t just your typical building project, opening a new street. This was a streetscape type of  project that we've been doing for the past 15 years,” Hellmich said. “I'm very proud of the consensus that everybody worked together. Ideas came from all over the place, from different committees, from staff and from council about what works and what won’t, to make this project look really, really nice.”

The improvements include the construction of a brick gateway, columns, and pavers marking the eastern entrance to the park. 

The city extended East Jessamine from the park one block to Cypress Street. The extension and walkway across Heritage Park creates a walkway from the pedestrian bridge over Alabama 59 to Foley City Hall.

North Chicago Street was closed for several weeks while construction was going on.

Two new sets of four-way stop signs are also in effect on East Jessamine Avenue. The signs are in place at the intersections of North Chicago Street and North Cypress Street.

The new eastern gate also completes work to establish brick entranceways on all four sides of the park. Pavers link the new gate with the Centennial Clock and fountain on the west side of the park.

The Jessamine Avenue extension also adds about 20 downtown parking spaces along the new street.

The city and Riviera Utilities also installed decorative lights on Jessamine Avenue. Wooden light poles that hold halogen lighting on the south side of the park were replaced with decorative black poles holding LED lights. The LED lights are more efficient and will provide more illumination.

The Foley Horticulture Department will also plant six trees on the Jessamine extension.