Starting Wednesday, medians in high-traffic areas across Columbia will be subject to new restrictions for pedestrians and drivers.
Under the new pedestrian safety ordinance in the city, able pedestrians will be prohibited from standing on certain narrow medians less than 6 feet wide for longer than two consecutive opportunities to cross.
In those same areas, pedestrians will also be prohibited from approaching vehicles unless they're legally parked, and drivers will not be able to hand items out of their vehicles to pedestrians.
Critics of the ordinance have said it unfairly targets the homeless population.
The Columbia Police Department says the new ordinance will better protect both pedestrians and drivers in these high-traffic and high-speed areas.
New pedestrian safety guidelines
- Pedestrians must move off narrow medians within two consecutive opportunities to cross.
- Pedestrians can only approach fully parked vehicles. Drivers cannot hand out items from their vehicles to pedestrians.
- Drivers should not stop in roadways to allow passengers to exit their vehicle. People should not exit a vehicle that is stopped in any portion of the roadway, unless it's an emergency.
- Pedestrians can only cross roads at crosswalks and intersections.
In April, the city's Public Works Department released a map of all medians affected by the new regulations. Residents can view the interactive map online.
The intersections and roadways listed on the map meet at least one of three criteria: speeds of 35 mph or greater, an average of 15,000 vehicles or more daily, or a median width less than 6 feet.
A group of community members said they plan to panhandle in medians on Wednesday in a peaceful protest of the new ordinance, saying it violates the First Amendment.
The demonstration will begin at 10 a.m. on medians along Business Loop 70 between Range Line Street and Garth Avenue, and on Stadium Boulevard between Worley Street and Broadway, according to a news release from the Alliance for the First Amendment Columbia.
The alliance said panhandling is protected by the First Amendment and that attempts to outlaw panhandling have been overruled or severely limited in Portland, Maine; Springfield, Illinois; Minneapolis; Madison, Wisconsin; and Austin, Texas.
The Columbia Police Department said it is aware of the planned protest and maintained that the ordinance does not target panhandlers.
"The ordinance does not prohibit lawful protest, panhandling or expressive activity in safe locations," the Police Department said in a Tuesday news release.
How are police enforcing the new regulations?
Columbia Police Lt. Clint Sinclair previously told KOMU 8 that enforcement has nothing to do with what people are doing, but rather where they're doing it.
"The conduct, necessarily, doesn't matter," Sinclair said Wednesday. "We're not looking at what conduct they're doing at the median, we're not looking at why they're approaching the vehicles, we're not looking at why they're standing in traffic — it's just the fact that they are. Those are the safety issues that are coming up with our roadways in Columbia."
Sinclair said first-time violators will likely receive a warning. Those engaged in particularly dangerous conduct at medians or repeated violators are more likely to receive citations.
How long has this been in the works?
The median safety ordinance was introduced to the City Council using recommendations from a street and intersection pedestrian safety study conducted in 2025 by St. Louis-based CBB Transportation Engineers and Planners. The study reported that pedestrian and bicycle deaths rose 77% in Missouri between 2013 and 2022.
The proposal was introduced to the council in November 2025 and tabled at that meeting. Both advocates and opponents of the new regulations spoke at that meeting.
The Columbia City Council approved the ordinance in February 2026, with significant support from the Police Department.
