COLUMBIA, MO. -- People wanting to speak out on the future of Stadium Boulevard have a chance to do so at tonight’s Columbia City Council meeting.
Council members are considering a Stadium Boulevard Corridor Project to help improve traffic flow between Broadway and the highway.
Possible changes include new sidewalks and crosswalks, additional turning lanes and new entrances to the Columbia Mall.
Early estimates show the cost of the project at about $20 million.
Funding for the project comes from the City of Columbia, MoDOT and three Transportation Development Districts, or TDD’s.
“It’s probably safe to say that for the folks who maybe thought that they didn’t need to worry about this as much, and maybe now have seen plans, this is the time to get out and really make sure that you are comfortable with what is being proposed," Columbia Councilman Jason Thornhill said. "We’ve heard from a lot of folks, I have, in particular it’s in my ward, a lot of folks who maybe didn’t pay quite as much attention to the process along the way, which has been ongoing for some time.”
A recent MoDOT study shows Columbia’s Stadium Boulevard handles about 37,000 vehicles every day.
“It’s years and years of not really planning for what we wanted that area to turn into," Thornhill said. "I think this is just the best attempt to retrofit it. It’s never going to be perfect. The proximity and the amount of what is there to the interstate, there’s no good fix. Hopefully, this will improve it.”
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