Columbia has partnered with MoDOT to conduct a road safety audit for Route B/Paris Road
COLUMBIA, Mo (KMIZ)
The City of Columbia Public Works has commissioned a safety audit for Route B/Paris Road, and is looking for public comment following multiple crashes that resulted in serious injury or death.
The road audit is a part of its Vision Zero Plan. Vision Zero is a transportation policy goal and data-driven strategy to achieve zero traffic deaths or serious injuring on Columbia roadways.
Krista-Shouse Jones is the Vision Zero Coordinator for the City of Columbia Public works, and she said Route B/Paris Road was brought to the city's attention back in 2019.
"It was included in the report to council on the city's vision zero programs as being the first candidate for road safety audit due to the number of serious crashes and fatality crashes on that road." said Jones.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol there has been 94 crashes on all of Paris Road, and 63 on Route B. 92 injuries have been reported, and 2 deaths. The road is connected, but MSHP has them listed separately.
The City of Columbia Public Works Department has contracted CBB Transportation Engineers, and planners of St. Louis to lead the Road Safety Audit. "We as the city have commissioned the audit because we want to figure out if there are ways that we can work with MoDOT to make that stretch of road safer," said Jones.
Jones said the goal of the survey is to get input from the community.
"It really runs the gamut like we, we, the more input that we can get from different folks that use different modes of travel, the stronger the finished product will be as far as the final report, and i think it's really important," said Jones.
The survey can be taken online, or at one of the four locations, they have partnered with to provide paper copies of the survey.
These locations include
- D&H Drugstore, 1814 Paris Road
- Break Time, 2402 Paris Road
- Dollar General, 3020 Paris Road
- Steve-O's, 4600 Paris Road
A community stakeholder meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and July 20 from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the United Community Cathedral at 1201 Towne Drive. A virtual meeting option will be announced at a later time on its BeHeardCoMo page.
The final report based on the findings from the audit can be expected to be completed in late 2022.
