Revised schedule for City of Columbia Bicyclist & Pedestrian Counts due to Hurricane Florence

In an abundance of caution and in anticipation of Hurricane Florence, the City’s Planning and Development Services have cancelled the counts scheduled for this Saturday, September 15, 2018 and Tuesday, September 18, 2018. Volunteers that signed up to count on Saturday, September 15 can choose to count at the same location on Saturday, September 22, 2018 or Saturday, September 29, 2018.

Volunteers that signed up to count on Tuesday, September 18 can count on the following dates:

• Wednesday, September 19
• Thursday, September 20
• Tuesday, September 25
• Wednesday, September 26
• Thursday, September 27

If you haven’t signed up to count yet, or would like to count again, due to concerns about the weather, we have also added new dates: September 25^th, 26^th,27^th, and 29^th as specified below.

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The City of Columbia is seeking volunteers in September to help conduct our fifth annual Bicyclist & Pedestrian Counts throughout Columbia.  By counting pedestrians and bicyclists, volunteers help to ensure that all of the City’s residents count: transit riders, pedestrians, and bicyclists are often not accounted for in traffic studies- the same traffic studies used to make important decisions about our City’s landscape.  In counting, volunteers are also taking part in a national effort: the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project.

The City targets key intersections and crossings for pedestrian and bicyclist counts; these are locations which are heavily used, and at many of these locations pedestrians and/or bicyclists have been injured or killed.  By collecting data annually, on weekdays and weekends, we are able to provide valuable and robust feedback to the many agencies that plan for our roadways.  The survey will help us better understand who uses the City’s roadways – streets and sidewalks included – and how they use them. A greater understanding of people’s behavior, as well as new data, will help to influence people-oriented planning and policy that inspires walkable, bikeable, and livable transportation design.

Volunteer to count as many times as you please!  Eight time slots are available, and each of the 32 locations must be counted once on a weekday and once on a Saturday.  Surveyors will count pedestrians and cyclists at one location for two hours; training for the counts is provided to registered counters via email from City staff.

WHAT:         City of Columbia Bicyclist & Pedestrian Counts

WHEN:        Volunteer to count as many times as you please!  Eight time slots are available, and each location must be counted once on a weekday and once on a Saturday:

• Thursday, September 13^th, 7:30-9:30AM
• Wednesday, September 19^th, 7:30-9:30AM
• Thursday, September 20^th, 7:30-9:30AM
• Saturday, September 22^nd, 10:00AM-12:00PM (noon)
• Tuesday, September 25^th, 7:30-9:30am
• Wednesday, September 26^th, 7:30-9:30 am
• Thursday, September 27^th, 7:30-9:30am
• Saturday, September 29^th, 10:00am-12:00pm (noon)

WHERE:       Sign up at http://gate.columbiasc.gov/PBCount; counts occur at 32 locations throughout Columbia

WHO:          Open to the public

To sign up, visit http://gate.columbiasc.gov/PBCount.  If you have questions regarding the Annual Bicyclist & Pedestrian Count effort, contact Planning and Development Services Department at 803-545-3222.  For information on the City’s Planning efforts, including the Walk Bike Columbia Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan, and the Walkable 29203 Pedestrian Master Plan, visit https://www.columbiasc.net/planning-preservation/city-plans.  For information on the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project, visit http://bikepeddocumentation.org/