Council approves $12 million Nifong project

UPDATE: The Columbia City Council approved the $12 million improvement project.

Ward 4 Councilman Ian Thomas opposed, saying the city needs to get less dependent on cars for travel.

ORIGINAL: The Columbia City Council is scheduled to vote on sending a $12 million improvement project for Nifong Boulevard out for bids at Monday’s meeting.

The project is years in the making: council members first agreed in November 2016 to have engineers from Engineering Surveys and Services to look into what improvements could be made to the road between Providence Road and Forum Boulevard. The Nifong work was also included in a list of 2015 capital improvements sales tax projects.

The engineers identified several improvements, which included adding through lanes, turn lanes, bike lanes and sidewalks.

The improvements are designed to ease traffic flow and promote safety along that stretch of Nifong.