City of Columbia launches public survey for Sharing the Road safety action plan

The Sharing the Road project team has developed draft program, policy, and project recommendations aimed at making our roadways safer. We hope you’ll take a look and provide your thoughts via our online survey at this critical phase in the planning process! Your feedback will help form and finalize a comprehensive roadway safety action plan for the City of Columbia – and we hope you take a moment to tell us what’s important to you.

These draft recommendations are built upon the input we received last Fall at public meetings and via our first online survey and interactive map, coupled with best practices and crash data-driven findings. This survey asks for your feedback on:

• Recommendations to improve safety along five selected roadway segments and five selected intersections
• Program and policy recommendations to improve roadway safety for all users
• Systemic recommendations to make transportation infrastructure safer

In addition to sharing more systemic recommendations to address roadway safety, we will be sharing a High Injury Network map, as well as some conceptual ideas for potential safety-related improvements along roadway segments and intersections located within the High Injury Network.

About the Selected Roadway Segments + Intersections

With the development of our High Injury Network map, we were grateful to note that a number of our partners are already working to address safety concerns for all users along a number of these key corridors. As the selection of locations for conceptual design is a part of the planning process, the project team worked to select locations which were not being otherwise addressed but posed a more pressing safety concern and complexity of design. These projects are conceptual and do not have funding allocated at this time. Your local knowledge can help inform this process, and the resulting project recommendations can help position the City and our partner agencies to make future funding requests. Locations we’ll be discussing are:

Intersections

• Beltline Blvd at Two Notch Rd
• Covenant Rd at N. Beltline Blvd + Pine Belt Rd
• Elmwood Ave at Main St
• Laurel St at Huger St
• River Dr at Sunset Dr

Segments

• Academy/W. Beltline (I-277 – Two Notch)
• Elmwood Ave (I-126 – Bull)
• Farrow Rd (Beltline Blvd to Chappelle)
• Huger St / Whaley St (I-126 – Wayne)
• Two Notch Rd (Taylor/Forest – Cushman/Pine Belt)

About the Planning Effort:

Sharing the Road will analyze the safety issues faced by all road users, from our more vulnerable users, like pedestrians and cyclists, to transit riders and personal and commercial vehicle operators. This planning process is partially funded by and aligns with the USDOT Safe Streets and Roads for All program. The process and resulting plan will:

• Result in an official public commitment that establishes a target date to significantly reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries.
• Identify the City’s High Injury Network through the analysis of crash data and public input.
• Build on prior planning efforts like Walk Bike Columbia and Columbia Compass while focusing specifically on how to improve roadway safety for all users.
• Identify systemic and specific safety needs + priority projects for the City and partner agencies to collaborate on moving forward.
• Align with the USDOT Safe Streets and Roads For All program, which is partially funding this effort. The resulting plan document will also position the City for future potential grant funding.

Engage with this planning process + more:

• Take the survey through June 9^th and learn more via the project website: https://planninganddevelopment.columbiasc.gov/safe-streets/
• Sign up to receive email updates regarding multimodal transportation planning + events: https://forms.columbiasc.gov/243375701335858