Transforming transportation: Nine years in, GetAbout Columbia says more people using trails, pedways | columbiatribune.com

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Like the other three communities chosen for the grants, Columbia spent most of its funding from the pilot program on infrastructure: 42 percent was spent on off-street infrastructure such as pedways and trails, and 40 percent was spent on on-street infrastructure such as bike lanes.

GetAbout also has used the federal funds to develop pedestrian infrastructure. For example, more than $570,000 was used to improve the intersection of Providence Road and Business Loop 70 just outside of Hickman High School, which tends to attract a high volume of pedestrians during peak travel times and during the lunch hour.

GetAbout also has funded projects that were a bit out of the ordinary for Columbia. In 2009, the city council approved plans to use about $9,000 to construct a bike boulevard running east-west on Ash and Windsor streets in central Columbia. Residents and some city council members were skeptical about the idea, which included painting lines on the street to encourage bikes and automobiles to share lanes while giving preference to bikes while cutting off left turns from Ash and Windsor onto College Avenue to block out cut-through automobile traffic.

But two years later, city leaders deemed the bike boulevard a success after studies showed that fewer automobiles were traversing the bike boulevard, were driving slower than before and that bicycle traffic had doubled.

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Transforming transportation: Nine years in, GetAbout Columbia says more people using trails, pedways | columbiatribune.com

MoBikeFed comment: This article is one of the best overviews of the successes and lessons learned of the GetAbout Columbia project, which dedicated $22 million in funding to Columbia to create better bicycle and pedestrian connections around the city.

The project clearly showed the investment in better, safer places to walk and bicycle improves the community and leads to higher use.

And it must be kept in mind that the $22 million spent over about five years sounds like a lot to the average person, but is actually a relatively small amount to spend on transportation projects in a community as large as Columbia.

By comparison, MoDOT spends over $2 billion annually; Columbia Missouri's share of that would $46 million annually. GetAbout Columbia spending amounted to just over $4 million annually.