Columbia nonmotorized pilot project presents first proposals

Columbia bicycle lane

The bicycle boulevards sound like an attractive idea,” Mehr said. William Street, between Walnut and Rollins streets, would be one of a handful of city streets that would be closed to automotive through-traffic, while allowing local cars and bicycles to travel the residential streets.

Bike boulevards were only one of the improvements that Ted Curtis, the PedNet Project’s senior planner, discussed during his presentation at the beginning of the meeting.

While some came to the meeting to find answers to procedural questions, such as whether the city would use eminent domain to acquire the right of way for the more than 100 miles of new trails the committee hopes to build in the next 10 years, others were still concerned about the controversial proposal to pave the MKT trail. . . .

Jay Hasheider, president of the Benton-Stevens Neighborhood Association . . . said he likes many of the ideas the committee proposed, such as the 66 additional miles of bike lanes, which the city could begin constructing next summer.