Residents and community members gathered at the intersection of West Boulevard and Ash Street Wednesday evening, in protest of Columbia's Ash Street Improvement Plan.
The proposed plan would remove 111 trees and cut into people's yards to build new sidewalks and bike lanes.
Designs include an eight-foot-wide sidewalk on the north side of Ash Street, a five-foot-wide sidewalk on the south side, a continuous bike lane, and flashing beacons at intersections, according to the city. The changes would be made along Ash Street between Clinkscales Road and First Street.
The group who organized the protest, “Pedestrians for Ash” say they want to see changes to the existing plan.
The group's requests include preserving the trees along Ash Street, installing speed bumps to reduce speeding, painted cross walks and pedestrian crossing signs, and repairing existing sidewalks instead of expanding or adding new ones.
Many attendees at Wednesday's protest live near where the Ash Street Improvement Plan would be implemented, like resident Matt Wright. Wright said he feels the city hasn't taken residents' concerns to heart.
"I feel like we got a lot of cold shoulder from the city staff," Wright said. "[They should] come up with some innovative solution, and I've gotten the distinct vibe that innovation is not a priority for the city in this project."
The city held an interested parties meeting last month, nearly three years after the last meeting was held for the project in July 2022. Columbia Public Works and engineers said they were looking for more feedback from the public to possibly change their original plans.
Columbia Engineering Supervisor Allison Anderson said residents will have another chance to have their voice heard again later this year.
"Council had directed us to do another public hearing which we hold at council," Anderson said. "So that would probably be late spring early summer."
The city's plan for Ash Street would be funded by a quarter-cent sales tax that was approved back in 2015.
