The initial phase of a project to spruce up the streetscape in downtown Pauls Valley got underway over the weekend.
Volunteers pulled weeds and picked up trash, city employees mounted hooks and hung 70 flower baskets on the street lamp poles, and a paid contracting crew used heavy equipment to clean out overgrown and dead vegetation in the 22 curb extensions – or bump outs – along Paul Avenue.
River rock is being installed in the bump outs for the time being, as the city tries to improve the look of the downtown area, while keeping maintenance costs down.
“We are working in phases, and we’re doing as much as we can with the limited resources we have,” Pauls Valley Tourism Director Tawni Huggans said. “As of now, we do not know how many phases there will be, it all depends on the funding.”
This initial phase will also include restriping the street parking spaces on Paul Avenue and hanging new decorative lighting over the street. Both of those projects had to be postponed this weekend due to weather conditions, Huggans said, but are expected to be completed in the next few weeks as weather allows.
“It’ll just be a really good refresh,” Huggans said.
As the city moves into the second phase of the project, Huggans said concrete planters will be added to some of the bump outs, providing the opportunity for more color in the downtown landscape.
A start date for that second phase has not been decided, but the city plans to purchase a mold and make the planters rather than purchase pre-made planters, a cost-saving measure that will allow containers to be built or replaced as needed, Huggans said. It will also allow the city to eventually place planters in other locations, such the main entry roads coming into town.
“Really the goal is just to keep everything cohesive and nice and inviting,” Huggans said.
Pauls Valley has unique opportunities to draw visitors to the area over the next couple of years, Huggans said, as people traveling Route 66 for its 100th anniversary venture off for day trips in other parts of the state and as Oklahoma City hosts events for the 2028 Summer Olympics and hotel rooms in the metro are in short supply.
“You want people to drive by and say, ‘That’s a cute town, I want to stop there!’” Huggans said. “And this is just the first step in that.”
A total of $8,450 was approved for the projects in phase one, with 25% of that coming from the code enforcement/beautification budget and 75% from tourism funds budgeted for tourism infrastructure.
