East Hardy Street will be returning back to its roots, as Hattiesburg City Council members recently approved a request, through a petition, by a Hub City resident to revert the street back to its original name of River Avenue.
The decision to rename the street – which runs from the East Hardy Street bridge at Leaf River to the existing River Avenue at the intersection of Newman Street – was made the August 22 council meeting. The move was previously recommended at the August 2 meeting of the Hattiesburg Planning Commission.
“This is something that any citizen could do,” council president Jeffrey George said. “I think this is an opportunity for us to bring it back to its roots as River Avenue, and hopefully that will continue to instill pride in the people that live and work there, and we’ll hopefully continue to invest in that area as we move forward.”
The change will take place on September 22. Between now and then, officials from the Forrest County Emergency Management Agency will notify all businesses, residents and stakeholders on the road, along with reworking 911 road mapping and notifying the U.S. Postal Service.
Street numbers will not be affected, as they will retain the same status after the name change.
“Our city crews will start the process of creating and changing out the streets signs along that stretch, back to River Avenue,” George said. “If (the address) was 1 East Hardy Street, it will be 1 River Avenue.”
According to the Forrest County Emergency Agency, there are 52 structure points on that stretch of road. So far, no opposition to the project has been brought forward.
The name was changed from River Avenue to East Hardy Street in 1966, after a local business owner made a petition for the move. Documents state the owner felt that the original name did not reflect progress, and he believed that an overpass would inevitably connect to the original Hardy Street.
With two new overpasses under construction – neither of which connect to Hardy Street – and the notion that GPS programming has created issues over the years for local businesses, the new petition to change the name back to its original gained traction.
“I think this is something that the neighborhood and the businesses over there were in support of,” George said. “So any time a citizen is able to bring forward a petition to do something that they believe is best for the community, and we’re able to approve that to move forward, it’s just exciting.
“So I hope this will spur development over there, and interest in that area, especially with the infrastructure improvements going on between Petal and Hattiesburg on the Leaf River.”
