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This seems like a way to shuttle more cars quickly, which is the opposite of what we need. We need to calm traffic and our our roads on a diet to humanize the scale of the city to encourage pedestrian activity.
Traffic is Columbia moved efficiently enough as it is. Changing road to one way just for the sake of doing it would hurt, not help, the fabric of the city.
Have you really gone through downtown half of the time. Certain streets going east to west sees mostly one way traffic anyway majority of the time.
And only 2 lame going one way sometimes it's crazy. Like example Taylor and Hampton.
If the continue those roads being one way all the way till harden Street that would be not only efficient but would get cars in and out quicker.
Not to mention remember we are thinking ahead. Downtown is gonna grow by a lot within the next 5-10 years. I think it would be smart (which the city seems to not have a lot of half of the time) think ahead. The growth is coming and it's about to hit us hard. I think instead of Columbia scrambling to try an find a solution when the problem is already there i think it's best for them to tackle it for the future in advanced.
Like how many want to see a light rail or street car in Columbia that would not only help shuttle people around better but would also benefit the buses and would help spur on more growth in downtown and area surrounding the Rail system. Even if it's a small 10-20 mile system either running from downtown to northeast or Northwest. Or even a street car down north main would be beneficial
Some of you may already know this, but I thought I would share anyway. I took a guided tour of Columbia at some point and they explained the reason for the wide streets. When Columbia was designed, people thought that mosquitos could not fly more than 60 feet before dying from starvation. Silly of course, but science was far less precise then. The planners created a two tier system: major streets that are 150 feet wide (Assembly, Gervais, Blossom, etc.) and minor streets that are 100 feet wide (Blanding, Washington, Pendleton, etc.). Unfortunately, the streets were not narrowed when city leaders rebuilt after the Civil War (thanks, Sherman).
Have you really gone through downtown half of the time. Certain streets going east to west sees mostly one way traffic anyway majority of the time.
And only 2 lame going one way sometimes it's crazy. Like example Taylor and Hampton.
If the continue those roads being one way all the way till harden Street that would be not only efficient but would get cars in and out quicker.
Not to mention remember we are thinking ahead. Downtown is gonna grow by a lot within the next 5-10 years. I think it would be smart (which the city seems to not have a lot of half of the time) think ahead. The growth is coming and it's about to hit us hard. I think instead of Columbia scrambling to try an find a solution when the problem is already there i think it's best for them to tackle it for the future in advanced.
Like how many want to see a light rail or street car in Columbia that would not only help shuttle people around better but would also benefit the buses and would help spur on more growth in downtown and area surrounding the Rail system. Even if it's a small 10-20 mile system either running from downtown to northeast or Northwest. Or even a street car down north main would be beneficial
I didn't really understand the first part of your post, but my point is that moving cars at high speed through downtown is not the way of the future. Our streets are wide enough and traffic moves in and out of downtown remarkably well. We don't need more capacity and won't for a long time.
I didn't really understand the first part of your post, but my point is that moving cars at high speed through downtown is not the way of the future. Our streets are wide enough and traffic moves in and out of downtown remarkably well. We don't need more capacity and won't for a long time.
I agree. Columbia is very disconnected because of some large one-way streets. Taylor street is a ghost town most of the time, but when there are cars its like a major freeway, not pedestrian friendly at all. I don't even like turning right onto Taylor Street from Pulaski because of how fast cars come barreling down. The goal of Columbia should be to get people to come to downtown and stay a while. I don't frankly care if people get from Lexington to Forest Acres 5 minutes quicker at the expense of disconnected neighborhoods in the downtown core.
Taylor street and Hampton street need to be immediately turned into either 3 lane or five lane divided streets. Preferably with parking on one or both sides, curb bump outs, and pedestrian islands, along with human scale street lights and heavily landscaped medians. Investing half of what they want to spend on Finlay Park to improve those streets would do wonders to attract people to the park and encourage pedestrian activity from the vista to the park and from main street down to canalside. I know this is not likely to happen as SCDOT runs almost all the roads in South Carolina, but maybe the city could do a swap the SCDOT and take control of at least that stretch.
It makes sense to me! I think it may be hard getting people from cottontown on board though. I know that is your main argument about why the city is not progressive, though. I get it! I think the real question is, is there enough demand for all that building? Price is becoming an issue in the city core as one gets away from usc student money, so some investors may be a little shy in these areas. Unfortunately, Transitions would be a huge issue for building an awesome apartment building on Elmwood and Main. But, I get that this is an awesome thread about ideas, and appreciate your forward thinking! Good Work!
Also, were you the one who did the renderings of possible tall building in Columbia a few years back?
I did some pictures years ago on urbanplanet. Im new here on city data.
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