Columbia Council to discuss million-dollar road project

The Columbia City Council will take another look at a $1 million road project in town.

The city and MoDOT plan to split the cost for improvements at Stadium and Old Highway 63.

The council first discussed the project in May.

ABC 17 News covered the meeting when councilman Ian Thomas suggested redesigning some parts of the plans.

The project calls for several features, two left turn lanes heading north on Old 63 onto Stadium, and new concrete islands for the stoplights.

However, Thomas and other members of the council had an issue with the crosswalks.

The first set of plans had only two crosswalks.

In May, MoDOT told ABC 17 they did not want to build crosswalks to areas without sidewalks, or safe places for pedestrians to go.

They made an exception for this project; its main purpose to reduce congestion at the light.

Thomas said the new design with all four crosswalks is a much safer design, and a way to promote walking throughout the city.

“We reduce our congestion, we have fewer cars on the road, and overall we save a lot of money out of our transportation budget,” said Thomas.

Columbia will take the cost of adding those two crosswalks.

That brings the city’s total cost to about $650,000.