Columbia's Mayor Hindman stands up for bicycle/pedestrian friendly street plan

Proposed improvements on Range Line Street in Columbia are becoming a bone of contention. MoDOT feels that property values have increased too much, and wants to scale back the project, eliminating bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly features. According to a Columbia Daily Tribune story:

[T]he state is encouraging the city to accept a state road rebuilt on the existing 80-foot right of way, as opposed to a 107-foot right of way that also would feature a sidewalk on one side and an 8- to-10-foot pedway on the other. . . .

MoDOT’s support for an 80-foot right of way runs counter to Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman’s support for making city streets more pedestrian-friendly.

Hindman successfully shepherded into law a city ordinance that requires wider rights of way with bike lanes and more substantial sidewalks for new roads built inside the city. . . .

Hindman said the city couldn’t accept streets that aren’t friendly to all traffic, including pedestrians, wheelchair users and bicyclists.