Current Projects
5th Annual Pedestrian & Bicyclist Counts
Amplify Columbia: A Cultural Plan for the Columbia Area
5th Annual Pedestrian & Bicyclist Counts
Volunteer to help make the City of Columbia a safer place to walk and ride!
The City of Columbia is seeking volunteers in September to help conduct our fifth annual Bicyclist & Pedestrian Counts throughout Columbia. By counting pedestrians and bicyclists, volunteers help to ensure that all of the City’s residents count: transit riders, pedestrians, and bicyclists are often not accounted for in traffic studies- the same traffic studies used to make important decisions about our City’s landscape. In counting, volunteers are also taking part in a national effort: the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project.
The City targets key intersections and crossings for pedestrian and bicyclist counts; these are locations which are heavily used, and at many of these locations pedestrians and/or bicyclists have been injured or killed. By collecting data annually, on weekdays and weekends, we are able to provide valuable and robust feedback to the many agencies that plan for our roadways. The survey will help us better understand who uses the City’s roadways – streets and sidewalks included – and how they use them. A greater understanding of people’s behavior, as well as new data, will help to influence people-oriented planning and policy that inspires walkable, bikeable, and livable transportation design.
Volunteer to count as many times as you please! Eight time slots are available, and each of the 32 locations must be counted once on a weekday and once on a Saturday. Surveyors will count pedestrians and cyclists at one location for two hours; training for the counts is provided to registered counters via email from City staff.
Volunteer to count as many times as you please! Eight time slots are available, and each location must be counted once on a weekday and once on a Saturday:
Tuesday, September 11th, 7:30-9:30AM- Wednesday, September 12th, 7:30-9:30AM
- Thursday, September 13th, 7:30-9:30AM
- Saturday, September 15th, 10:00AM-12:00PM (noon)
- Tuesday, September 18th, 7:30-9:30AM
- Wednesday, September 19th, 7:30-9:30AM
- Thursday, September 20th, 7:30-9:30AM
- Saturday, September 22nd, 10:00AM-12:00PM (noon)
Historic Resources Survey
About the Survey:
Picking up where the Bryan Survey left off in 1993, this architectural survey is intended to capture information related to historic resources in the north part of the city, documenting buildings that were constructed prior to 1975, mostly in areas that have never before been surveyed. This information will be used for planning, preservation, and promotion of the city’s historic resources, in an effort to retain those resources that are important to understanding the built environment of Columbia. The neighborhoods that will be surveyed are Windemere Springs, College Place, North College Place, and Colonial Park (west of the train tracks only). Surveyors will be out in this area during the month of July but will be gathering information from the right-of-way only.
How to participate:
Connect with the survey team via Facebook, and please contact Tina Poston to share information about the history of the community. We are looking for residents to share oral histories, photos, and other resources that may offer historical information about the area.
Contact Rachel Walling, Senior Preservation Planner, with any questions regarding the survey.
Please join us at the completion of the project to learn about the survey findings and recommendations! Tuesday, September 25, 2018 from 6:00 - 7:30 pm, Eau Claire Print Building (3907 Ensor Avenue)
Park(ing) Day is Coming!
PARK(ing) Day is an annual open-source global event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public places. The mission of PARK(ing) Day is to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat … at least until the meter runs out!
We are excited to announce that the City of Columbia, in partnership with the South Carolina Chapter of the American Society for Landscape Architects and One Columbia for Arts and History, is again helping to facilitate Park(ing) Day, a national event that takes place on Friday, September 21st. This event is about reclaiming on-street parking spaces as public space for people, for one day out of the year (10AM- 4PM). Participants design and install temporary elements that can include seating, art, games, plants, etc. to encourage people to interact in the public right-of-way.
How to Par(k)ticipate:
- Get the Application
- Plan your Park
- Get the necessary insurance, or if you are an artist or with an arts organization, contact One Columbia ([email protected] or 803-254-5008) for support
- Complete the Application
- Submit the Application by 5pm Wednesday, August 15, 2018
- Apply to bag your meter by noon, Friday, September 14, 2018
Amplify Columbia: A Cultural Plan for the Columbia Area
A Teaching Artist Workshop will be held on Monday, August 27, 2018, at 6pm at the Eau Claire Print Building (3907 Ensor Avenue, Columbia). This is a free professional development workshop for teaching artists, and participants will be given structure, guidance, and tools to implement clear goals in their residencies and lessons and to improve their work. This session is free, however pre-registration is required, by emailing your name and contact number to [email protected].
