Columbia City Council approves traffic calming proposal on Rollins Road
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia City Council unanimously voted to slow down traffic along Rollins Road between Fairview Road and Stadium Boulevard following a public hearing on Monday. The roughly $32,000 project will add three speed bumps near Rollins Road and a crosswalk at the intersection of Martin Drive
According to the council memo, Rollins Road ranked as the second-highest priority project in the 2023 Neighborhood Traffic Management Program, scoring 78.57 out of 100. The ranking system considers factors such as speed, traffic volume, proximity to schools, bike routes, pedestrian activity and crash history. Speed and traffic volume account for two-thirds of the score.
Allison Kaizer and her husband have been living on Huen Road for the last 12 years. In 2023 she joined 27 other residents who signed a petition to place more traffic calming devices in her neighborhood after watching cars regularly speed past her driveway.
“It’s a nice quiet neighborhood, except people go too fast. We are advocating for more speed bumps on Rollins because people want to get where they want to get and I understand that cause I drive on roads, but I think they don't think about the residents,” Kaizer said. “We also don't really have sidewalks here so pedestrians coming up that hill really feel endangered.”
The petition prompted the city to conduct a traffic study and gather feedback. A traffic study found that Rollins Road has an 85th percentile speed of 39.3 mph and sees approximately 2,965 vehicles daily. The posted speed limit on the street is 25 mph with multiple school zones in the area that have a speed limit of 20 mph. The same study found that the average car was traveling at 35 mph through the area.
Two meetings were held, one on July 8, 2024, and another on Dec. 9. While most attendees supported traffic slowing measures, feedback on the proposed plan was mixed, with complaints ranging from the color of the paint, concerns over speed bumps damaging cars, and response times for emergency vehicles.
“We do include first responders on these plans and we let them tell us their opinion and in this case, they accept it,” Public Works spokesman John Ogan explained. “On every speed bump plan, we include them. Yes, it does lower response times, but they have ways to handle that.”
The city proposes installing three speed humps and a crosswalk with bulb-outs at the following locations:
- Speed hump near 711 Hulen Drive
- Speed hump near 2401 Rollins Road
- Speed hump near 2200 Rollins Road
- Crosswalk with bulb-outs at Martin Drive and Rollins Road
“The goal of all of this is just to create more livable neighborhoods, to reduce speeds and make it safer for people to live in their neighborhoods,” Ogan said.
Construction is expected to take place during “the 2025 construction” season. Additionally, bike lane markings will be added in the coming years as existing shared lane markings fade or are removed during maintenance.
