COLUMBIA, S.C. — A citywide plan meant to cut deaths and serious injuries on Columbia streets moved a step closer to adoption this week. Sharing the Road, the city’s comprehensive safety action plan, was set for a Planning Commission recommendation at the panel’s Thursday, Nov. 12 meeting, and City Council has scheduled a public hearing on it next week.
That hearing begins at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, in the third-floor Council Chambers at City Hall, 1737 Main Street. If approved, the plan becomes an add-on to the transportation section of Columbia Compass: Envision 2036, the city’s comprehensive plan. A second reading is expected Dec. 1. Questions about the agenda can go to 803-545-3333.
City planners say the numbers behind the effort are stark. Columbia logged 34,732 crashes from 2019 through 2023, and 7,003 of them caused injuries. Ninety-nine people died in that span, and 26 more were killed in 2024. Using state cost estimates, the city puts the economic toll at more than $3.2 billion for the five-year period.
Pedestrians and cyclists were part of only 1.5% of crashes in the city over those years, yet they are killed and hurt at higher rates than other road users, according to the planning department. The plan maps a high-injury network of streets and lists priority projects, and the team picked five corridors and five intersections for early concept designs.
Council already made a formal safety commitment in June, when it adopted resolution R-2026-025. Adopting the plan is also required for the city to compete for future federal Safe Streets and Roads for All implementation grants, which helped pay for the planning work.
Section: More Charleston SC crime news
Filed under: Charleston SC Traffic News
