COLUMBIA, S.C. — Residents on the east side of Columbia got to give their thoughts on traffic conditions in a meeting at Richland Library Southeast on Tuesday night.
A new traffic study was presented at the meeting, finding the Garners Ferry Road and Fort Jackson Boulevard areas are hot spots for car crashes and traffic. Which city council member Peter Brown says is a big problem in Columbia.
"It's terrible. I'm on Leesburg Road every morning and twice a week in the afternoon picking up my daughter from school," Brown said.
The study is from the Columbia East Traffic Improvement Plan group and the Central Midlands Council of Government. At the meeting, the community heard about plans for development and how the roads in the area will be impacted.
As Columbia and Richland County welcomes more growth, overcrowding and traffic delays are at the top of mind for some people like Javlon Duckett.
"The growth is inevitable. Garners Ferry is a main artery, there's a lot of attraction coming down this way, I think that it's good and it's also concerning," Duckett explained.
The groups say they will take the collected data into account when planning for future buildings, with a focus on projects that are compact, mixed-use, and pedestrian-friendly.
David Hicks says he wants to see efforts toward more green types of transportation.
"You can't build your way out of [traffic] congestion," Hicks said. "If we can make people safe when they're walking, riding their bike, or rolling in their mobility scooter to their destination, more people will choose to do that."
Parts of Garners Ferry, as well as the on- and off-ramps to the interstates near Fort Jackson Boulevard, were found to be frequent crash spots.
For further questions about the traffic study or how you can express your thoughts on the current traffic patterns, you can contact the project manager, Joe Robertson at Joseph.robertson@kimley-horn.com or call (803) 403-8557.