Bluff Road widening near USC football stadium could begin next winter

A well-traveled stretch of Columbia road that carries the heavy burden of USC football traffic, State Fair crowds and countless daily commutes will see widening and improvements in the near future.

Plans are advancing to widen Bluff Road from Rosewood Drive nearly to I-77 using some $24 million in tax revenues from the Richland County Transportation Penny Program.

There are also future plans to widen and extend Shop Road, which runs parallel to Bluff, as well as widen Atlas and Pineview roads near the stadium.

“There’s obviously a lot of traffic that goes up and down Bluff Road,” said Rob Perry, the county’s transportation director. He noted the need for a continuous center-turn-lane along the four-lane roadway and, given the proximity to the football stadium and fairgrounds, the demand for pedestrian and bicycle amenities.

The first of two phases of the Bluff Road project, encompassing the roughly quarter-mile stretch between Rosewood Drive and George Rogers Boulevard, at the fairgrounds and USC’s Williams-Brice Stadium, is already well into the planning stages. The project will install a continuous center turn lane in the middle of the four-lane road and install sidewalks and shared-use pedestrian and bicycle paths on either side.

As part of this phase, the county also is receiving $1.8 million in funding from the state Department of Transportation for a new sidewalk that will run along the Bluff Road side of the fairgrounds and continue around the corner to the fair’s Rosewood Drive entrance.

Construction on this phase could begin next winter, after USC’s 2016 football season, and be complete by the following summer, before the 2017 season. The total cost of this phase is expected to be $5 million.

The second phase of the project also will extend a continuous center-turn-lane from the back side of Williams-Brice, at Berea Road, about two miles south to South Beltline Boulevard. Construction on phase two of the Bluff Road project is expected to begin in winter 2017 and be completed around spring 2020.

The county is looking for feedback on plans for the project that include a variety of options for combinations of bike lanes, sidewalks and mixed-use paths.

“It’s a once-in-20-years opportunity to put down bike and (pedestrian) infrastructure,” said Keith Gosselin, a member of Columbia’s Bike Pedestrian Advisory Committee, who attended a public input meeting for the Bluff Road project Thursday evening. “You only get a chance to do this once, so you want to make sure that everybody’s needs are met.”

Gosselin said he was pleased to see plans drafted for potential bike lanes and shared-use paths, though he’d like the county to consider widening some of the paths to meet standards laid out in the city’s new Walk Bike Columbia plan.

Gosselin also pointed out a possible need for pedestrian crosswalks at intersections – a need that was not represented in the county’s early draft of the plans but that resonated with several residents of the Arthurtown neighborhood off Bluff Road, south of Williams-Brice, who also attended Thursday’s meeting.

“It’s only going to benefit the stadium,” Arthurtown resident Larry Tucker said of the current plans.

He and his wife, Amanda, said they appreciated the sidewalks included in the plans but would like to see crosswalks and additional traffic lights included to help residents near the stadium navigate the hoards of people caught in gameday traffic.

The county will take residents’ input into account as it continues the design process for the project, Perry said.

This story was originally published August 27, 2015 at 3:54 PM.