Are pedestrians safe crossing the street in this budding Midlands nightlife district?
Each day, a steady stream of pedestrians cross Meeting Street, the busy four-lane road that travels through the heart of West Columbia’s biggest retail district, heading from a dilapidated parking lot to restaurants, bars and shops.
In the one-mile stretch from the Gervais Street bridge to Ninth Street, only four pedestrian crosswalks exist and three of them exist within the quarter mile stretch just up from the bridge. The placement of the crosswalks and the speeds at which cars in the area drive leaves pedestrians with few safe options for crossing.
West Columbia city officials want to change that.
The city’s bustling corridor along State and Meeting street continues to grow, with a four-story mixed-use development featuring more than 200 housing units planned for the vacant Capitol Square shopping center, the site of that rundown parking lot that serves as vital public parking for the increasingly popular dining and nightlife district. A plan to make the area safer for those on foot is slowly making progress.
The project, which has been on the city’s to-do list since at least 2018, would involve giving Meeting Street a “road diet” from just off the Gervais Street bridge up to Ninth Street. A road diet is the process of reducing lanes for cars and adding bike lanes, walking paths and planted medians. Similar projects include the changes to Columbia’s South Main Street near the University of South Carolina’s campus and to college nightlife district Five Points.
The hope is that by reducing the number of lanes, dropping the speed limits in the area and adding street parking, the area will feel more connected and drivers will slow down coming over the bridge.
“Meeting Street’s the most central corridor we have … this will help to provide some additional parking, it will provide some much-needed safe passage from one side of Meeting Street to the other for pedestrians and it’ll give it that kind of hometown Main Street feel,” West Columbia Mayor Tem Miles told The State.
Where the project stands
While city officials listed the Meeting Street corridor as a place for improvements in a 2018 citywide redevelopment plan, it took around four years for the project to make significant progress.
“It’s been mentioned for a while, but I think it’s always been about funding and feasibility,” Tara Greenwood, West Columbia’s assistant city administrator for development, said.
The initial plan was for the improvements to be funded by a penny sales tax, which Lexington County Council put before voters in November 2022. But that proposed 1% tax was shot down 55% to 45% by voters, wiping out the possible funding for multiple roadway projects around the county, including in West Columbia.
The project ranked fifth on the list of prioritized projects for the penny tax and was anticipated to cost around $11 million to complete. Since the penny tax measure didn’t pass in 2022, the city cut back most of the plans involving utilities along the stretch of road but will still be able to make most other changes, Greenwood said.
West Columbia allocated some $3.5 million of the $8.9 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds it received to the project in December 2022. Since then, the city approved a contract with The Landplan Group in August of last year and has been working with the Columbia-based landscape architect to finalize plans.
The reason construction on the overhaul of the road hasn’t started is because the city is waiting on permits from the South Carolina Department of Transportation, Greenwood explained.
“That’s really our driver as far as construction starting,” Greenwood said, adding that the city has been in talks with SCDOT and that the agency is in support of the proposed project.
The city is required, by American Rescue Plan rules, to spend the funds it allocated by the end of 2026. The hope is to have physical work starting on the project by the end of this year, with plans to have the project completed by the end of next year.
Flashing lights
In the meantime, pedestrians in the area have mostly leaned on the crosswalk across from Savage Craft and D’s Wings that flashes to alert cars to stop when people are crossing. The city installed it in the summer of 2021.
“It’s not an ideal situation currently, there’s just no other way to put it,” Miles said, adding that certain SCDOT rules prohibit the city from adding a full-stop intersection. “I think everybody knows and understands that something else needs to be there long term, but there’s just not a good interim thing to put in.”
As West Columbia squeezes new developments like mixed-use apartments into abandoned and vacant lots, the city has slowly seen more walking traffic as parts of the city become more densely populated. But that wasn’t the initial plan for the area, and city leaders say they’re having to work with what they’re given.
“In the ‘70s, when they widened Meeting Street, they did it so that cars could race through town. It really has been kind of detrimental to people being able to move around in that area,” West Columbia Councilman David Moye said.
The city said it couldn’t find any records of vehicle versus pedestrian collisions for 2025, but also noted that there isn’t a specific mechanism for tracking that.
Mike Davis, the owner and head chef of longtime eatery Terra at the corner of State and Meeting Street, said the crosswalk near D’s Wings and Savage Craft sitting just as drivers come over the hill concerns him.
“People are supposed to slow down [for the lights] so I understand what they’re trying to do, but it just seems a little suspect sometimes,” Davis said.
But Davis and other business owners, like D’s Wings’ Billy Rentz, said the flashing crosswalk seems to be working for the moment and are hopeful about the proposed changes to the area.
“These guys have been right about everything so far, so I’m going to trust them that they know what they’re doing,” Rentz said.
Miles, the city’s mayor, said he walks his dog along the busy road every day and knows firsthand how unfriendly the road feels as a pedestrian. He believes the road diet will completely change the feel of the area when it’s complete.
This story was originally published March 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
