The new Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola will be open to pedestrians for Memorial Day weekend.
Contractors are wrapping up the main phase of the $10.7 million New Palafox Project ahead of the May 24 early completion deadline, and the city will hold a “small business” ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the street reopening on May 22.
The project upgrades the popular downtown street with expanded sidewalks, new landscaping and trees, brick-paved intersections, pedestrian safety features and an upgraded stormwater system.
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves said the street will remain pedestrian-only until May 31, then open to vehicle traffic as contractors move off Palafox Street to pave the side streets around it.
“We definitely want to make sure that everybody’s aware that the street is open and that these businesses get that return for people to be able to come back,” Reeves said.
Strategic Initiatives Project Officer Adrianne Walker said that over the coming days fencing will be moved onto work areas on the eastern side of Palafox on Romana, Intendencia and Zaragoza streets. Once work is done on those sides, work will shift to the western side of Palafox, and then paving work on Government Street will be done last.
The entire project is expected to be completed by the end of June, and the city will hold a full dedication ceremony in early July.
Fencing may remain in some areas on the southern side of Palafox over the weekend, but she said that the contractor is on track to make the May 24 deadline to have all of the work complete on Palafox Street itself to be awarded the 10% bonus in the contract.
“(To meet the bonus) the work for the construction plans has to be complete,” Walker said. “The city does have some discretion in some areas, like we have decided to make sure pedestrians could enjoy it a little bit longer, so we made the decision to keep it to pedestrian-only until May 31. So, delaying the vehicles doesn’t impact their incentivized bonus since we made that decision.”
Why is the city changing Palafox?
In 2022, Florida Power and Light completed a five-year $86 million upgrade of downtown Pensacola’s power grid. The project left Palafox Street, which had been repaved only a few years before, criss-crossed with concrete patches where the new power grid was installed.
FPL was obligated to return the streets to their previous condition, and when Mayor D.C. Reeves came into office, he learned that Palafox would have to be closed for 60 days. He began talks with FPL to do something beyond a repaving project to take advantage of the funding opportunity and the fact that roads would already be closed for some time for the FPL repair.
The street has become a popular outdoor dining area, but in some areas, tables and chairs don’t leave enough room for the sidewalks to remain accessible under Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
The street’s stormwater system has also not been upgraded since 1999.
Here’s the project by the numbers:
General changes:
Trees and Landscaping:
Stormwater Improvements:
Additional Amenities:
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Palafox Street will reopen to pedestrians for Memorial Day weekend
Reporting by Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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