Ever struggled to get around downtown Columbia on foot? A new $7M project could help
The downtown Columbia area is full of amenities and activities.
The Vista and Main Street offer an ever-evolving selection of restaurants and bars, North Main Street has emerged with its own identity, and after years of planning and pushing, the BullStreet District is also coming into focus.
But none of the city’s downtown corridors are easy to access without a car. That could be changing soon.
The city is planning an estimated $7 million expansion of the Vista Greenway through downtown that would connect it all the way to the BullStreet district. Not all of the money for the project has been identified, but the city has made a request to get some of the funding from Richland County’s recently extended penny transportation tax.
Right now, the Vista Greenway goes from Lady Street to Elmwood Avenue. The city is already working on extending it to North Main Street by running it between the Earlewood and Elmwood Park neighborhoods. That stretch is estimated to cost $3 million.
The next leg of the trail would be about 1.6 miles, going from North Main Street to Page Ellington Park at BullStreet. That leg is estimated to cost $4 million, according to Dana Higgins, Columbia’s director of engineering, who presented the plan to a city council committee Tuesday.
It is unclear when construction on the next portion of the greenway will begin. A city spokesperson said the timeline is dependent on funding and right-of-way access, “which can be highly variable.”
But the city hopes to have the greenway fully complete by 2028. The entire Vista Greenway would be roughly 3.75 miles long one-way when complete.
The new trail could be the city’s most important greenway in terms of better connecting the city to itself, said Regan Freeman, development director for Cola Town Bike Collective, which advocates for better ways to traverse Columbia car-free.
Columbia built the first leg of the Vista Greenway in 2012, starting at the Lincoln Street tunnel running under Lady Street, and ending at Finlay Park. In 2016, it was extended to Elmwood Avenue.
The trail is useful for dedicated cyclists, Freeman said. But it doesn’t connect to anything other than Finlay Park, which is currently closed amid a major renovation, but is expected to reopen this fall. And in its current form, the Vista Greenway is also somewhat hidden if you don’t know that the entry-point is an old tunnel.
With this extension, it could become a thoroughfare for people who want a safer way to get between downtown corridors. It would also provide a new entry point into BullStreet.
Freeman said he thinks the greenway cutting through Finlay Park will also help make more people aware that it exists at all, increasing how often it gets used.
Local leaders have given particular focus in recent years to the Columbia area’s greenway system, calling it a priority for quality of life and enticing more tourists. A handful of new projects along the area’s three rivers are also underway, including an extension of the Saluda Greenway and a new bridge across the Broad River.
