COLUMBIA, S.C. — Assembly Street is one of the main traffic corridors in downtown Columbia. One block away and running parallel to Main Street, navigating the thoroughfare can be tricky depending on whether you're dealing with trains and students near the University of South Carolina on the south end or deciding which lane to end up in at the northern terminus at Elmwood Avenue.
For those and other reasons, the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) wants your input on proposed Assembly Street Safety Improvements during a meeting Thursday evening.
Some of the proposed improvements include:
- sign and signal upgrades
- updated pavement markings
- median improvements
- pedestrian crossing improvements
- curb extensions
- sidewalk improvements, including adding a sidewalk along George Rogers Boulevard from Rosewood to Bluff Road
The SCDOT Traffic Safety Office conducted a Road Safety Assessment and traffic safety engineers, public safety officers, city engineers and planners and others reviewed the gathered data, as well as crash and speed data, before making the proposed improvements.
The Thursday, August 22 meeting is 5-7 p.m. at the Girl Scouts of Midlands All-Purpose Room, 1107 Williams St., Columbia, 29201.
The meeting will be a drop-in format with displays for viewing and you will have to opportunity to provide written comments. There will be no formal presentation at this meeting.
To learn more about the proposed Assembly Street Project, see SCDOT's project page.
If you cannot make it to the meeting, comments will be accepted until September 5 either online or by contacting the project manager Shawn Salley at salleyse@scdot.org
After adoption of the proposal, construction is scheduled to begin in 2026 with an expected duration of 10 months to completion.
