Part of funding for Five Points road, pedestrian overhaul among governor’s vetoes
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster has vetoed a portion of the funding that is set to go toward a sweeping road and pedestrian safety overhaul in Columbia’s Five Points entertainment and nightlife district.
The state Legislature had recently approved $850,000 in the coming year’s budget that was for a pedestrian safety project in Five Points. That money would pair with $4 million the state Department of Transportation already has set aside for the project, for a total of $4.85 million.
But the extra $850,000 was among many items swept up in McMaster’s budget vetoes, which were announced Friday. The governor vetoed a total of $152.5 million in the budget, and made plain his concern with the way budget earmarks are handled.
“The bulk of these earmarked appropriations ... still lack sufficient context, description, explanation of merit, or justification as to how the recipient intends to spend the funds,” McMaster wrote in a Friday letter to the General Assembly. The governor went on to say he wants the Legislature to consider his proposal to “create a public merit-based competitive grants process” for items that are typically earmarked.
The Legislature is set to return to the State House next week to consider overriding the governor’s vetoes. State Rep. Seth Rose, a Columbia Democrat who has pushed hard for the Five Points road overhaul, says he thinks it is likely the money for the project gets reinstated.
Rose said he was “disappointed” the Five Points road funding was among the items that were vetoed.
“The governor lives in downtown Columbia,” Rose said. “He has to know what a worthwhile and amazing project this is.”
While the plans have not yet been finalized, a study commissioned last summer by the transportation department suggested several changes in Five Points, including reducing the number of traffic lanes along sections of Harden and Devine streets, improving pedestrian signals and crosswalks, and putting in curb “bump-outs” that would reduce pedestrian crossing distances and times.
The Department of Transportation is set to have a public information meeting about the project from 4-7 p.m. on Aug. 3 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
Last year the Department of Transportation published a road safety audit for Harden Street through Five Points. Parts of that report showed the corridor is one of the most dangerous in South Carolina for pedestrians and bicyclists.
According to the audit, from Jan. 1, 2013, through Dec. 31, 2018, there were 232 vehicular crashes in that corridor and there was a “high frequency” of crashes involving pedestrians or bicyclists, which helped trigger the road safety audit. The audit noted, because of its commercial and entertainment uses, Five Points experiences a “high volume” of pedestrians throughout the year.
Of the 232 crashes reported in the audit, a total of 17 of them involved bicyclists or pedestrians during that time period.
This story was originally published June 25, 2021 at 3:53 PM.
