Community Report

Royal (population 446) is situated along County Road B40 and M36 and is surrounded by productive farmland. The active downtown has a grocery store, bank, post office, café, and other useful amenities. Although the farm cooperative is a boon to the local economy, it brings heavy truck traffic, as well as other farm vehicles into town. In addition, the co-op cuts off one of the town’s most popular destinations—Memorial Park—from the rest of the community.

Community Assessments

Connectivity is important in Royal!

The community assessment process demonstrated that residents are proud of the town’s amenities. However, these important destinations are lacking connectivity. Participants in all focus-group demographics noted the disconnect between Memorial Park and the rest of town, and that there is only one access road to the Royalty Addition. Residents aspire to create connections not just within the town, but also to larger neighboring towns such as Spencer. 

Planning and Design Summary

Resident input played an important role in the goal-setting process, through which the Royal visioning committee identified the following projects:

• Improve pedestrian connectivity and accessibility to local destinations.
• Design a trail through Triangle Park and Memorial Park and develop additional recreational amenities in Memorial Park.
• Create a secondary access point into the Royalty Addition to increase accessibility and safety for motorists and pedestrians.
• Designate formal truck routes to reduce conflict areas between pedestrians and motorists.
• Develop a family of signage to strengthen community brand and assist visitors with way-finding.

Summary of Transportation Assets and Barriers in Royal

Check out the preliminary results of the transportation assets and barriers workshop held on February 2.