City Council sets public hearing for pedway on Stadium
COLUMBIA — The city plans to spend nearly $1.3 million on two major sidewalk projects next year, using money from its Non-Motorized Transportation Grant from the federal government.
The first project would be a 5-foot sidewalk on the north side of West Broadway from Stadium Boulevard to Fairview Road. The council on Monday authorized the city to buy land necessary to construct the sidewalk, which will cost an estimated $545,000, according to a report to the council from Public Works Director John Glascock.
The location was chosen for the "volume of people" who use the area, chief engineer David Nichols said, adding that two apartment buildings and a church in the area generate much of the pedestrian traffic.
The second project is a proposed sidewalk/pedway on the north side of Stadium Boulevard between Providence Road and College Avenue. Glascock estimated in his report that the project would cost $726,000. The proposed pedway would be 8 feet wide, except between Maryland Avenue and Monk Drive, where it would expand to 10 feet. The expanded width would help to handle crowds on days when there are MU football games.
The council scheduled a public hearing on the pedway for its Sept. 21 meeting.
Nichols said the need to build retaining walls is one of the reasons the project will cost so much. GetAbout Columbia manager Ted Curtis said crews also will have to build the pedway at night because Stadium Boulevard is a major thoroughfare, and traffic would be lessened.
The pedway, which Nichols preferred to call a "wide sidewalk," also would require improvements to a number of the intersections along its route, further adding to the cost.
The pedway would function as a "good connector" to other GetAbout projects around MU and would make it easier to walk to sporting events, Nichols said.
Work on both projects would begin sometime after December, Public Works spokeswoman Jill Stedem said.
Columbia is one of four cities to receive grants from the federal Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program. The program, run by the Federal Highway Administration, provides $22.5 million for cities "to
help build infrastructure and establish national standards for public
awareness and willingness to use active modes of transportation," according to getaboutcolumbia.com.