![[willsq 1.png]] # June 16th 2025, 4-6pm, Stormwater Studios (413 Pendleton St, Columbia, SC 29201) ![[WilliamsSt-2 1.jpg]] [After about a year of anticipation](https://columbiasc.gov/city-of-columbia-announces-the-williams-street-extension-project-to-improve-our-riverfront-gateways-2/), Columbia is hosting a public meeting on June 16, 2025 to share updated plans for the Williams Street Extension. **We’re showing up, and you should too**! This new project is going to become the main connection for pedestrians and people on bikes from downtown to the river. It’s the missing link. Once it’s built, it will become the safest way to walk or bike from the center of Columbia to both the Gervais Street Bridge and Knox Abbott. That makes it the true gateway between Columbia, Cayce, and West Columbia. It will also serve as the entrance to Columbia’s long-planned riverfront park, a project that’s [been in the works for decades](https://planninganddevelopment.columbiasc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/innovistamasterplan.pdf). That park will be a major destination and the anchor of the Three Rivers Greenway, a 40-mile trail system that will eventually connect downtown all the way to Lake Murray. This street matters, probably more than the future park. It’s the connection. The City *has* to get it right. We're just weeks away from celebrating South Carolina's first sidewalk-level protected bike lane on South Main Street. We confirmed it with Palmetto Cycling Coalition and others across the state. That's a huge milestone. We want to use that momentum and make sure Williams Street has protection too. This is where families, kids, and people of all ages will be walking and riding to the river. It needs a _street-level_ protected bike lane. Not paint. Physical protection. This could be Columbia's first real example of that kind of infrastructure and it could set the tone for what's possible across the region. We're excited to see what they will show off at the meeting. We are watching for information on that bike lane, but we also know the **Huger and Greene intersection** is just as important. With this many people on foot and on bike coming this way, that intersection needs serious design work and deserves to feel as safe as the protected bike lane it will connect too. Everyone knows Huger feels like a highway, even with a 35 mph speed limit. If the City is serious about safety, this would be the place to prove it. We believe this could be Columbia's first protected intersection and it's badly needed. [This article from Kittelson & Associates](https://www.kittelson.com/ideas/the-case-for-protected-intersections/) is a great explainer of what these are, and why they are important for safety of all road users. ![[EA6HqmCXoAAWXEP 1.png]] (Image Credit: Montgomery County Division of Transportation Engineering) Williams Street is going to shape how people get to the river, how they cross the city, and how connected we really are. If we want it to work for everyone, now is the time to speak up. **Public Meeting: Williams Street Extension** **June 16 | Drop in anytime 4–6pm** Let’s make sure this street is built for people! We'll post more on our recommended comments for the project once we see the plans. Stay tuned!