Downtown Columbia’s Assembly Street, one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, has long been a challenge for pedestrians. With 25,400 drivers passing through daily, crossing the wide, six-lane road has felt like a dangerous game of Frogger to many locals.
Stephen Ruxton, an avid runner who crosses Assembly Street nearly every day, shared his concerns, highlighting the high-risk intersection at Gervais and Assembly near the South Carolina Statehouse. “I’ve seen personally… people get hit at this intersection,” he said, pointing out the dangers faced by pedestrians trying to make it across the street.
However, the City of Columbia is moving forward with a long-awaited plan to redesign Assembly Street between Pendleton and Lady streets. This plan aims to improve pedestrian safety, slow down traffic, and make the street more welcoming for those on foot.
The Redesign: What’s in the Plan?
The planned changes will involve curb bump-outs at intersections, which will reduce the distance pedestrians must walk by 20 feet. Wider sidewalks with new lighting will provide a more comfortable environment for pedestrians. Additionally, narrower traffic lanes are intended to help slow down vehicles without reducing the road’s capacity.
The redesign will also include the removal of the current median parking along Assembly Street, which will be replaced with a wide, landscaped median featuring pedestrian refuges at intersections. These refuges are intended to provide pedestrians with a safe place to stop if they need to wait while crossing the street.
While the plans are moving forward, the project’s budget has increased since it was first proposed. Initially estimated at around $16 million, the cost has now risen to approximately $21 million, according to Clint Shealy, Assistant City Manager. The funding for the project will come from various sources, including:
- $12.4 million from the South Carolina Department of Transportation’s Guideshare program.
- $3 million from a state budget earmark.
- $600,000 from a Richland County program.
- $5 million from the next Richland County penny sales tax fund.
City officials held a public input meeting on April 23, where residents voiced their opinions on the proposed changes. Designers are accepting public comments through May 15 via the project’s website.
Assembly Street: A Hazardous Crossing
For many, Assembly Street has long felt like a place where pedestrians don’t belong. The street, built with a width of 150 feet, is 50 feet wider than other streets in Columbia’s original 400-block grid. The wide road was initially designed to limit the spread of fire and disease when the city was planned in the 1700s.
Today, however, it’s become a dividing line in downtown Columbia, one that makes walking across it feel more like a dangerous crossing than a simple urban stroll.
James Ribaudo, a landscape architect who recently moved to Columbia, described Assembly Street as “honestly, not a place that you want to walk.” While he supports narrowing the traffic lanes to improve safety, Ribaudo acknowledged the balancing act between providing space for pedestrians and maintaining efficient vehicle traffic. “Right now, the scale is tipped toward cars,” he said. “I would be happy to go through the city a little slower if it’s way better for people.”
Addressing Safety and Traffic Concerns
The primary goal of the redesign is to increase pedestrian safety and reduce the number of accidents on Assembly Street, which has a history of being prone to collisions. Between 2018 and 2022, the stretch of Assembly Street from Rosewood Drive to Elmwood Avenue recorded 1,603 crashes, including 34 involving pedestrians and 8 involving bicycles, according to a 2024 road safety audit.
Over 30% of those crashes were rear-end collisions, suggesting that traffic flow is a significant issue. The city hopes that by narrowing the lanes and providing more space for pedestrians, the number of accidents, especially involving pedestrians and cyclists, will decrease.
Future Expansion and Additional Projects
This redesign project will continue the work started in 2013, when the University of South Carolina completed a $4.6 million project to improve pedestrian safety on Assembly Street between Blossom and Pendleton streets. The new phase will pick up where that project left off, with plans to improve pedestrian infrastructure across the street’s full length.
Meanwhile, the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) is looking into adding new sidewalks near George Rogers Boulevard, near Williams-Brice Stadium. This area is also being evaluated for pedestrian improvements as part of a broader effort to enhance safety along Assembly Street.
The city expects to finish the design of the project by Spring 2027 and begin contractor selection at that time. Construction is estimated to take 18 months.
