Columbia plans nearly $60 million worth of new greenways throughout downtown
Columbia leaders have talked for years about the need to better connect the city’s disjointed downtown, where wide roads and heavy traffic separate the district’s major corridors.
Now, leaders are advancing a nearly $60 million plan to see new greenways built throughout downtown Columbia to help bridge gaps and create new pathways for people to get around the city.
The city is eyeing three new greenway projects and hopes to be able to tap some Richland County penny tax dollars for a portion of the work. Those include a roughly $10 million Vista Greenway Spur that would connect the existing Vista Greenway to the Columbia Canal and Riverfront Park; a $40 million Waterfront Park Trail tied to the city’s planned riverfront park between the Blossom and Gervais street bridges; and an estimated $7 million expansion of the Vista Greenway, aimed at linking the existing trail to North Main Street and the BullStreet District. “You see how [the trail system] connects through all four districts of the city here,” said Columbia Councilman Sam Johnson. “I just want to make sure folks understand these opportunities are opportunities for everybody to be able to traverse back and forth, to be able to live healthier lives, [and] get out and enjoy Columbia.”
City planning staff called the cost breakdowns “lose estimates” requested by Richland County staff to help determine what the county’s 1% transportation tax, called the penny tax, could reasonably help pay for. Exactly how much of the funding would come from the penny tax versus other sources remains unclear.
A new link to the canal
The three new greenway trails being contemplated by the city include a new link between downtown and the city’s existing riverfront park at the Columbia Canal site.
Columbia’s Vista Greenway currently runs from the Lincoln Street tunnel at Lady Street, to Elmwood Avenue, with a leg running alongside the newly renovated Finlay Park.
The Vista Greenway Spur would extend the trail beyond its current northern end at Elmwood Avenue, creating a more direct connection from downtown toward the canal.
The city is currently looking for designers for the project, which early plans would have running parallel to Elmwood Avenue alongside Elmwood and Historic Randolph cemeteries and include an elevated railroad crossing over the Norfolk Southern and CSX tracks.
Concept plans shared with designers also suggest the trail could wind through the Lower Paupers Cemetery — potentially including a boardwalk segment — before crossing the canal on a new bridge and tying into the existing path network at the Columbia Canal and Riverfront Park.
City leaders have framed the spur as part of a broader push to connect the Midlands’ riverfront trails into a continuous system.
A new bridge is already in progress that will connect the canal park to the Saluda Riverwalk and Boyd Island that sits across the Broad River from the canal. That project, dubbed the Broad River Pedestrian Bridge, is being paid for by the Darnall W. and Susan F. Boyd Foundation and Richland County.
The next phase toward BullStreet
At the same time as the city is looking to extend the Vista Greenway west toward the river, plans are also in the works to extend the trail north to Earlewood Park, and then east to the BullStreet District.
That $7 million project is being envisioned as a way to further bridge the gap between downtown’s distinct districts, which can be difficult to navigate between without a car.
The greenway that today ends at Elmwood Avenue would be extended to North Main Street by running it between the Earlewood and Elmwood Park neighborhoods. The next leg of the trail would be about 1.6 miles, going from North Main Street to Page Ellington Park at BullStreet.
Local advocates have said the expanded greenway could become one of Columbia’s most important car-free connectors, linking the Vista, Main Street, North Main and BullStreet with a safer route for walking and biking.
A major waterfront trail project
The largest price tag on the city’s list is $40 million for a Waterfront Park Trail, envisioned as part of the city’s effort to build a “world-class” riverfront park on the Congaree River between the Blossom and Gervais street bridges.
That project, which is currently being designed, is expected to include the new waterfront park, new public access to the river’s edge and additional trail connections that would fill in a missing link in the broader Three Rivers Greenway.
The city has already signed a $1.7 million contract with New York City-based firm Field Operations to develop a master plan for the riverfront site. Designers have described the property, nearly 100 acres, as one of the Southeast’s largest urban waterfront opportunities.
A trail through the proposed riverfront project would connect Granby Park to the south of the site, and eventually tie back into the trail system at the canal park and beyond.
Voters in 2024 overwhelmingly supported Richland County’s bid to renew the existing 1% sales tax to collect $4.5 billion for transportation projects over the next 25 years, often called a penny tax. The fund can only be used for transportation-related projects.
City leaders have said they expect to pull from various pools of money in order to build out the area’s greenway system, which when finished could connect downtown Columbia all the way to the Lake Murray Dam.
