Adding a bike lane to the Farrow Road corridor stirs disapproval from community
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)– The city of Columbia and the DOT are in hot water after going forward with a project that would change Farrow Road from Columbia College to East Campanella. The Greenview community was not fully on board with the plans, and they made that known during a public meeting earlier Monday morning. People were so upset that the city agreed to put the project on pause to make sure the community’s concerns are heard and their priorities are outlined in the final project.
The city presented their plans of adding buffered bike lanes and pedestrian improvements, but those come at a cost. The illustrations show how the Farrow Road corridor would become two lanes while maintaining the left turn lane in the middle, and then the outside lanes would be designated only for buses and bicyclists.
“The intent was to begin to bring some progressive infrastructure into the area. I do think it’s the right thing to do. It has to be done with the right communication and at the right time,” Teresa Wilson said, the City Manager.
Those who spoke out are upset for multiple reasons. One being they felt the meeting should have taken place before the construction had started. Many community members say this is an effort to marginalize a predominantly black community, and say their wants– to keep the four lanes for traffic reasons, are not being heard.
“This community is my life. And when you come and circumvent everything around us you are ruining our wellbeing. And this is not fair. I am not happy, we are not happy. We know we want 4 lanes. So tell us, are you going to fix it? Put it back to four lanes, give us a bike lane. Are you going to fix it?” Nicole Garban said, an angered citizen.
The city said they are unsure if it is possible to have four lanes and a bike lane. But after the meeting this morning, City Manager Teresa Wilson said it sounded like the community wants the four lanes more than the bike lane, so that will take priority. The reason this project started to begin with was to improve safety for pedestrians and bikers on the Farrow Road corridor. The Columbia Police Department said it is the largest traffic fatality area in Columbia, after having 6 fatal collisions in the past 3 years.
“I’ve been doing fatalities for 10 years now. I see a lot of them. If I had to pick one corridor without even looking at numbers, I’d know Farrow road because that’s where I’m getting called all the time,” Traffic Sgt. Robert Uhall said with the Columbia Police Department.
