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Consultants urge limits on standing in medians; Columbia council asks for more data before any ordinance
Summary
A consultant team presented a draft pedestrian-and-median safety study that recommends restricting pedestrian use of medians on streets with speeds 35+ mph, ADT ≥15,000 or medians narrower than 6 feet; council members asked for sidewalk overlays, demographic breakdowns and MoDOT coordination before considering legislation.
A traffic-engineering consultant presented draft findings and policy options Wednesday that would limit pedestrian access to medians in Columbia on streets meeting objective safety thresholds, and council members responded with questions about equity, enforcement and jurisdiction.
"A high percentage, about 80 percent of those pedestrian fatalities are at night," said Sean Light, a principal with the consultants' firm, citing national and local crash reviews used in the study. The presentation, commissioned after a December staff report, mapped recent pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries in Columbia and offered three recommended thresholds to flag medians for restriction: vehicle speeds of 35 miles per hour or higher, average daily traffic around 15,000 vehicles, or medians less than six feet wide.
The consultants read two officer narratives to illustrate the stakes: one crash near Stadium/Worley/Wardley in which a pedestrian struck in a median later received hospital treatment for a brain injury and a broken hip, and a second collision where a pedestrian in a median distracted a driver and led to injuries to another motorist. The firm framed the recommendations within a "safe system" approach — safer people, vehicles, speeds and roads — and noted Columbia's participation in Vision Zero work and success obtaining federal Safe Streets for All/SS4A funds.
Council members pressed for details and safeguards before any change to city code. "Not everyone is going to be physically able to follow that legislation," said Council member Valerie, warning that seniors, people using mobility devices and low-income residents could be forced into riskier crossings where sidewalks are discontinuous. She also noted Missouri's comparative-fault rules and First Amendment concerns around panhandling restrictions.
Consultants said draft ordinance language can include exceptions for obstructions and that application matters: one option is to restrict median use only where the three objective thresholds are met. They reported that the study identified roughly 205 medians under six feet that affect about 100 intersections; staff said the slides and maps are attached to the meeting agenda and offered to provide additional overlays on sidewalk connectivity and demographic breakdowns of pedestrian victims.
On signal timing, the consultants cited federal guidance in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) that sets pedestrian timing assuming a walking speed of 3.5 feet per second and recommended the council request MoDOT to review timing on state-controlled signals where crossing times feel short for vulnerable users.
Staff asked council to provide feedback within a few weeks; members requested a sidewalk-network overlay, victim-demographics from the report, and that the ward seat that originally requested the study be included in further conversations before any proposed ordinance returns to council.
The report remains draft; staff said they could either return with a final report that incorporates requested maps and data or present proposed ordinance language if council directs them to do so.
