Columbia intersection improvements will help all travel modes

Does this look like the kind of place you would like to go shopping?

A local resident has written with a reply to business owners in Columbia who feel that re-configuring and intersection to slow traffic and make it safer for those who walk and bicycle will hurt their business. Ellen Thomas wrote in the Columbia Missourian:

It is misleading to characterize the proposed improvements to the intersection of Forum and Stadium boulevards as a conflict of interest between car drivers and other road users. I use this intersection frequently in all three modes — primarily as a driver or bicyclist, less often as a pedestrian. The proposed changes will be beneficial to all modes. It is obvious that bicyclists and pedestrians benefit from improved visibility to drivers and by allowing southbound bicyclists to cross Forum safely so that they can properly move with traffic.

But it also benefits me as a driver when my conflicts with other road users are reduced. . . .

Facilities that enable and encourage alternatives to the car for some journeys make the trips we must do by car a little easier. Let's save the rancor for issues where there really is a conflict of interest and enjoy having a win-win proposal for a change.

Read the rest of Thomas's article here.