Mending Columbia's Urban Fabric
The mayor of Columbia, SC proposes turning the city's main street from an eight-lane freeway into a more comfortable place to walk. Says a supporter, 'Bridging that street is important for future development in the Vista and Main Street.'
"'Assembly is the gateway to Columbia,' the mayor said. 'In light of the fact there is no referendum, we need to go ahead and start planning' how to raise funds.
Assembly Street is downtown's main thoroughfare. But with up to eight lanes of traffic at some major intersections, it is the equivalent of a freeway running through the center of the city.
The street also divides districts both physically and psychologically — the Vista from Main Street, and USC's old campus from its new Innovista research campus.
The goal is to eliminate the railroad tracks that clog the street, bury the utility lines that clutter it and make it less daunting for pedestrians to cross."
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To clarify: Assembly Street
To clarify: Assembly Street isn't Columbia's "main street" in the sense of being the primary commercial corridor of downtown; that's Main Street. Assembly Street is downtown's major thoroughfare which runs west of Main Street.