Columbia commission wants wider shoulder at Rangeline roundabout

Columbia’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission is working to widen the shoulder area of the newly constructed dog bone roundabout on Rangeline at Interstate 70.

“We are exploring different ways right now to try to get this to be a safer intersection for vulnerable road users to get past these roundabouts and across I-70,” said Jason Patrie, the commission chairman.

Patrie said the commission is concerned about the shoulder area along the southbound lanes. He said the commission would like to see a 4-foot striped shoulder rather than the 2-foot shoulder that currently exists.

Mike Schupp, an area engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation, said the roundabout was built to federal guidelines. He said they decided to build wider driving lanes and incorporate a sharing lane for bicyclists.

A sidewalk along northbound Rangeline was also constructed. Schupp said a sidewalk could be built along the southbound lanes in the future but said the construction wasn’t included in the original project.

MoDOT and the commission have met to discuss the shoulder concerns since the roundabout was completed. Both Schupp and Patrie said it appears there was some miscommunication between the two groups and no clear consensus on what the stripping was going to look like.

“It’s been a little bit of a slow process,” Patrie said. “But we’re optimistic that we’ll be able to come to a solution where sometime here in the future we’ll be able to see a modification to that intersection that would be suitable to the people of Columbia.”

Schupp said for now the project is complete and there will be no further stripping done to the roundabout.

The commission is considering asking Columbia’s city engineers to look at the stripping project.