What’s new on Key West’s most famous street? You’ll see it right under your feet

Duval Street may have been nearly empty of tourists for the past two months. But it hasn’t been quiet.

The city of Key West had its most famous downtown street repaved, from Truman Avenue to Wall Street by Mallory Square, during the Florida Keys’ tourist shutdown, which officially ends June 1.

Crews on Friday were putting the finishing touches, like striping, on the Duval project.

“This is the start of City Manager Greg Veliz’s vision for making us all proud of what Duval Street can be,” said Scott Atwell, executive vice president and CEO of the Key West Chamber of Commerce. “There’s more work to be done by property owners but if we build it they will come.”

Bars, like the landmark Sloppy Joe’s, 201 Duval St., remain closed throughout Florida. But restaurants and stores have reopened up to 50 percent capacity.

“And yes, the rainbow crosswalks will return in an even better incarnation,” said city spokeswoman Alyson Crean.

Those rainbow crosswalks are on Duval at Petronia Street, near the 801 Bourbon Bar, known for its nightly drag show.

Gwen Filosa

Miami Herald

Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.