Letters: Downtown Columbia traffic congestion was avoidable

In light of the proposed 15-story residential complex that will dwarf the main library on Assembly Street, it is time to recognize that all of these new residential and commercial projects will sharply increase traffic counts, challenging the downtown street network.

Within a year, commuting times will rise sharply, demand for additional parking will soar, and injuries to pedestrians and incidents of road rage will increase.

The sad thing is that these outcomes could have been avoided by more carefully matching street capacity with the traffic the new projects will generate.

In most cities this is basic planning, but Columbia appears to have taken a different approach to becoming the world-class city it so desires to be.