Ash Street Improvements Project

Here are my points:
1) Three of the oldest houses in the 1st ward are at the corner of West Blvd and Ash. Combined age = over 300 years old. The Hobbit House will lose a large tree AND their carport! My house (916) will lose four mature trees and half of the front yard. This does not include those homes who will literally have a sidewalk running under the windows of their homes.
2) 40-some years ago, the development of Colony Pointe offices on Forum DE-NUDED that entire property, and there was such a public outcry that new development must now retain a certain percentage of existing trees. YOUR proposed Ash improvements will DE-NUDE Ash and completely alter the character of this street, and very likely adversely affect our property values. Why isn't EXISTING, decades-old property protected???????
3) There are SO MANY cheaper alternatives to traffic control - flashing warning signs before intersections, flashing mph signs. Why not start small with simple solutions before spending millions?
4) Speaking of millions, why not invest in traffic police? You could literally rotate officers between Bus Loop-Worley-Ash-Broadway-West Blvd-Worley-Clinkscale - at any point on these streets EVERY DAY and issue dozens of speeding citations. Or what about cameras to catch speeders? At least 50% of the people that come thru the intersection at West Blvd & Ash speed like it's a highway on-ramp.
4) The average citizen does not understand OR give a hoot about these 'collector street' (or whatever we are) designations, but ALL of us on Ash deserve to be heard about our property and ALL citizens will cry when they see the results of this unwarranted and unwanted plan. Please start over and come up with non-invasive solutions, because they are there!

I am opposed to any incursions into private property. Beautiful landscaped redbuds at Pinewood marked for death. Also very bountiful peach tree at Redwood. in favor of bold markings at intersections. + a yellow warning sign 50? yards in front of intersection to alert vehicles of intersection. (flashing light warning? preceding intersection?) also perhaps raised curbing at intersections. Money better spent on addressing unslightly areas on borders of many properties (weeds, gravel mounds w dirt, stumps & often trash) Replace ugly power linew w underground lines. Pass an ordinance requiring "Lawn Care Specialists" to stop leaf blowing debris into gutters , & SWEEP up w large broom & discard at landfill or compost site. The West end of the 25 duplexes (stonegate?) at West Blvd is another neglected eyesore. A hundred yards of weeds, & trash (until they are occassionally forced to do a superficial clean up every few yrs. The city classified this duplex settlement as "single family housing " when in fact it is not, therefore relieving the developer of being required to provide a screen to adjoining properties. Seriously clear out w Brush hog. then plant ground cover or otherwise landscape. We need PRACTICAL & BASIC measures of improvement in Ash neighborhood , not thousands of $$ of wastful spending on more concrete we don't want, or need.

I live on Clinton Drive and drive on Ash Street every day. Here are my ideas.
1) IF you want to slow down car traffic, install a small circle similar to the circle at Fairview & Rollins at Ash & West Blvd and at Ash & Garth.
2) Place a curb on the south side of Ash between the road and bike lane to protect bike travel. Make sure this bike lane is 8 feet wide to provide bike travel in both directions by narrowing the street.
3) Remove power poles and bury ALL electrical cables.
4) Widen the sidewalk on the North side of ash from the existing sidewalk to the road eliminating the grass strip owners have to mow.
5) DO NOT CUT DOWN THE EXISTING TREES.
6) DO NOT REMOVE THE FRONT YARDS OF THESE HOMEOWNERS.
The City of Columbia destroyed the SHARP END years ago. These primarily Black Businesses were removed and replaced by public housing. It is the poorest who are targeted for your "improvements". I do not see you targeting Stewart Road or Rollins Road in an effort to remove the front yards or cut down the trees. STOP and LISTEN.
I MOST SINCERELY OBJECT TO THIS ENTIRE PROPOSAL.

The removal of many trees, the acquisition of large portions of residential front yards, and the roadway/footprint widening are unacceptable. While I recognize the need for improvements, the current design does not reflect the needs of our neighborhood.

Many of us have proposed alternatives but these voices have not been heard. Our feedback seems to have had little effect on the plans. The loss of so many trees and green spaces will change the character of our community in ways we cannot undo. We understand that some sacrifice is necessary, but the scale of the proposed changes feels too great, especially when the improvements we have actually requested have not been included.

I want to see a plan that incorporates traffic calming, repairs sidewalks, and has a footprint the same or very similar to the existing one. Please reclassify Ash as a Residential Collector so that we can have the traffic calming measures that we have been asking for.

I hope the city will rework the plans and work with us, the residents, to find a solution that balances safety and infrastructure improvements with the preservation of what makes our neighborhood special.

I am a resident of the 1st ward and have lived in the neighborhood for 30+ years. I feel that the plan proposed by the city does not properly address many of the concerns expressed by the area residents. Though I understand that the loss of some property and trees is required for improvements, the current proposal would be more of a negative than a positive. Additionally, many of the requested improvements seem to be completely missing from the plan, for example, traffic calming. Slowing cars down is a large part of making a street safer and more pleasant for the families who live there, as well as pedestrians and bicyclists traveling through. I am aware that no plan will please everyone, but I think that the proposed plan will please no one.

Hello. I am a resident on Ash St and would like to express my disappointment in the city’s proposal for “improvements” on the street. My neighbors and are united in feeling strongly about keeping the original footprint of the neighborhood. Except for a few people, we property owners on Ash have very small front yards. We do not want the city to take what little real estate we have. Many of us would be left with practically no yard space between our home and the new proposed sidewalk. And our trees! Mature trees make this neighborhood beautiful, yes. But they also shade our houses in the summer, reducing our energy costs, and shield us from the wind, provide home and shelter for wildlife and produce oxygen for all of us. The city’s proposal would eradicate over 100 mature trees on the street. As for traffic calming, this could be achieved easily by installing speed bumps, which I have seen all over Columbia and seem to do a good job of keeping speed in check. Occasional crosswalks would be welcome for pedestrian safety. Fixing our existing sidewalks would also be a welcome fix. We do NOT need 8’ wide pedways! Bikes do not belong on sideways — there are pedestrians with strollers and dogs and kids who walk regularly on the sidewalks — adding bikes would be disastrous! Keep the bikes on the road in bike lanes where they belong. All in all, our neighborhood is unique in that it’s an old neighborhood in the center of town with true community and a shared love for its character and charm. Please don’t ruin that.

Your survey is not really a survey because I must choose between only 3 possible plans, none of which are what I want. So I didn’t answer it.

I want a complete sidewalk on at least one side of Ash from Clinkscales to Providence. It makes the most sense to do this on the north side, since there is nearly a complete sidewalk on that side already.
I want NO or only minimal reduction in homeowner’s yards and only removal of trees that an independent (of the city planners) arborist says are not healthy and should be removed. This may require driving lanes of only 10-11 feet in some areas. This will slow traffic, and this is a bonus, not an impediment to improvement. Slower traffic is safer traffic. Safer for all concerned.
I want increased safety measures: slower traffic (traffic calming), several safer crossing points from the north to the south sides of the street.
To facilitate what is needed I think Ash Street should be downgraded from a Major Collector to a Neighborhood Collector. It is an old street and cannot even meet the current criteria for a neighborhood collector, so it is ridiculous for it to be classified as a major collector, because it can’t come anywhere close to meeting the requirements for that designation: there are driveways every 50 feet, so that alone makes it unsuitable as a major collector from Clinkscales to Providence.
People can slow down and get up a bit earlier to have time to drive slower for the less than 1.5 miles in question, and they will still get where they are going and we will all be safer, and the city can save some money. Concrete is expensive!
At important intersections where pedestrians and cyclists frequently cross, there should be curb bump-outs to slow traffic. Intersections I suggest for the bumpouts are Ash and Clinkscales, Ash and Pershing, Ash and Anderson, Ash and Aldeah. Additionally, there needs to be something more obvious than a plain stop sign at Ash and West Blvd, as many drivers obviously don’t see and or don’t pay attention to the signs that are there now. You could at least use a stop sign with a lighted outline such as those recently installed in the University hospital area, or marked crosswalks with lights that can be activated, such as those at the intersection of Broadway and Edgewood/Aldeah.
I am a pedestrian, cyclist AND a motorist, and I think these are all tolerable for all users and make sense. Currently, I frequently RUN across Ash to get across without being hit by cars, and I shouldn’t have to be in as much danger of being hit by a car as our neighborhood deer are. I’m in my 70s and I don’t run as fast as I used to. I’d be dead if I were’t still nimble enough to jump out of the way of motorists (even in COMO police cars!) that don’t yield to me in crosswalks marked only with paint, or with paint and an unlighted sign.
It also would be nice if the city could enforce the rule that residents should clear their sidewalks of snow and ice if at all possible. Almost no one does this anymore. Apartment complex owners almost NEVER do so, and this is inexcusable, since I know many such complexes are owned by someone with enough money to pay someone to clear the sidewalks as well as the parking areas. Many times, snow is piled from apartment complex parking lots onto the adjacent sidewalks, where it takes forever to melt.

Ash needs to be designated as a neighborhood collector. I have lived on or adjacent to Ash for 15 years. I have 4 children that regularly walk and bike along Ash to get to school, my work, or friends' houses. The proposed plans make our neighborhood less safe for the people who live here. The plans destroy valuable trees and yards.

The needs of the residents who live here need to be considered, and the current proposed plans do not do that.

Removing the trees and shrinking the size of the lawns on Ash Street will negatively impact the neighborhood character that the neighbors and property owners value. Some of the front lawns are already small. Creating sidewalks that encroach on them and allow pedestrian traffic so close to the houses borders on invasion of privacy.
Everyone is in favor of traffic calming, but something similar to what has been done on Stewart seems to be more appropriate.
Ash Street is not a major traffic artery as are the two streets that run parallel to it.

I do not like any of the three options for the Ash Street Improvement Project because I do not feel like any of those options actually improve our street.

Although having improved sidewalks would be nice it will not help improve safety if residents cannot cross the street safely. Yes, I know that crosswalks may be added but that does not help when traffic is moving too fast and drivers are frequently distracted. We need to look for options that would calm the traffic and allow residents to keep their trees and property.

Taking trees will not only make the road seem more open, which results in faster traffic. It will also lower our property values and increase our cooling needs in the summer.
Consider keeping our lanes as narrow as possible to allow emergency vehicles to use our street when needed and adding traffic calming.

Consider making Ash and Worley one way streets with bike lanes and sidewalks in the existing roadway. No trees or property would be lost with this option.

Consider anything that slows traffic and leaves our trees.

Additionally the four way stop at Ash and West Boulevard needs attention. Accidents and near accidents are frequent. Sadly this intersection in near an elementary school. Drivers frequently speed through the school zone and ignore the crosswalk and crossing guard there before approaching this stop.

Ash St needs to be reclassified as a Neighborhood Collector. What this road needs is traffic calming. If we are to improve the safety of cyclists and pedestrians on this road the City needs to narrow the driving lanes and add speed bumps and crosswalks. The current plan, as proposed, will destroy the front yard and property values and eliminate the tree canopy which makes Ash a bikeable/walkable route. There is plenty of room within the current footprint of the road and sidewalks to make improvements to bike lanes and sidewalks without taking property away from residents. If the City is looking to change a roadway in order to help the traffic flow leaving and entering downtown, it needs to be done on Broadway which is much more of an arterial street, currently has major backup problems at rush hours, and has ample room in in the ROW to expand its width for turn lanes.

I've lived on Ash street for 15 years in two different homes. Speedbumps, improved sidewalks, basic crosswalks, and additional stop signs would actually improve Ash street, rather than the proposed plan. This is a neighborhood street and it should be treated as such. It is a gem in the city - a historic neighborhood that is close to downtown and campus while maintaining a neighborhood and community feel. It is a benefit not just to the residents (who are making it very plain that the proposed plan is not appropriate or helpful), but to the city as a whole, to maintain this unique neighborhood and all that makes it special.

The neighborhood approached the city with requests for crosswalks, sidewalk repairs and stop signs so that children could navigate West Ash and West Blvd on their walk to school, older adults could cross Ash with their pets or pulling a wagon with their grandkids in it. Instead we received a plan that did not address the real concerns of the neighbors and instead addressed the traffic flow goals of city staff. Now we are on the cusp of displacement. Trees which lower utility bills and drink up excess rainwater and run off would be removed, front yards which are already small and efficient, compare and contrast the continuing conversations about tiny houses on small lots, and then walk along Ash, and look at small homes on small lots, but the plan would in short order divide the neighborhood with a STROAD, and undermine the wealth our families have built up in taking good care of their small houses on small lots. We have Stadium and Business Loop to move traffic from one side of Columbia to the other. The current CATSO category of classification, arbitrarily assigned to West Ash, does not contemplate driveways entering and exiting West Ash every so many feet, remember we are on small lots so our driveways are closer together. The houses were there first, since the 1940's, the neighbors where there first, the natural growth of one of the most family friendly and affordable neighborhoods was there first, where people have purchased their homes (and can now avoid the predatory rental practices that happen too often in our beautiful city). As our elected leaders and paid city staff spend time talking about creating more affordable housing, how about we save and protect and preserve the affordable housing we already have? There is no sum of money, except perhaps a cash grant of $250K, that would allow us to replace a given displaced house with another. We do not have, nor will we ever have enough, funds to replace the housing this plan will displace. And given the expanding footprint of LLC investments groups buying up our housing stock across cities, that replacement housing arising upon an unspecified large expanse of not yet identified undeveloped land, will be far more expensive than the housing this current plan would diminish and eventually destroy. We talk about needing and wanting affordable housing, ok, let's talk about creating affordable housing in good repair without DISPLACING the affordable housing we already have. The current West Ash Improvement Project will displace our existing residents. Let's talk about giving our residents what they asked for, a neighborhood in control of their destiny with the safety controls we have studied over the past 7+ years with hundreds of hours of our donated time, spent in fellowship with our neighbors in our backyards. We love our children, we love and watch out for our neighbors, especially our older adults. Crosswalks, stop signs, sidewalk repairs. Not roundabouts, not the taking of a house or two for an expanded intersection, from a "willing buyer", not the removal of hundreds of trees that help lower the utility bills of their residents in a season where all our utilities, including increasing the water bill to pay the water bond, an increase of at least $16 for the lowest consumption user of natural gas to Ameren to fund new construction, increased electric rates to cover the cost fluctuations of buying off the grid and construction of the new transmission lines, all these will rise on our neighbors yet we won't have a way to mitigate that rise with our tree canopy, nor to drink up excessive rain water from severe storms. City decisions are interconnected, stop looking at this as traffic flow opportunity and look at the consequences, planned and unplanned to this plan, holistically. Thank you.

This plan makes no sense for the west ash neighborhood and neighboring areas. It will increase car traffic and speed and will shrink already small yards - making it very dangerous for pedestrians. We walk Ash with my toddlers every day and I would not feel comfortable doing this with a widened street and faster cars.
Ash does need improved sidewalks and traffic calming (especially at west and ash). I believe this is a chance for Columbia to be progressive in our ways of dealing with the unique needs of this older neighborhood that has been historically mistreated.
I do believe Broadway would be a better fit - especially as the homes generally have much larger yards and it would take some of the pressure off of ash.

I live on West Ash Street and have concerns about the plans that have been presented to us. Our front yard is about 21 feet from the porch to the road. I have tended a beautiful native flower garden in my front yard that enhances the neighborhood and provides a place for bees and butterflies. I look out my front window and frequently see Columbia residents walking, biking, and using wheelchairs or scooters to travel down our neighborhood road. I run through our neighborhood several days a week and enjoy the trees along Ash as well as the small front yard gardens that are similar to mine.

With the current proposed plan, I will lose almost half of my front yard. I will have a sidewalk mere feet from my front window and door. And most importantly, the proposed plan classifies Ash Street as a major collector road when in fact it is a neighborhood residential road. We desperately need traffic calming measures. Although the speed limit is 30 mph, cars frequently speed down our road at much higher rates. In 2020, my house was hit by a drunk driver a few feet from where I was sleeping. The car was going at a high rate of speed, and the damage caused luckily didn't hurt or kill anyone, but it caused us to move out for six months while 1/3 of our home was rebuilt. The idea that the city would make it easier for drivers to go faster down our road, mere feet from my front door, is a scary thought...especially when I see so many children and elderly people using our street to walk, bike, or wheel.

Please consider the needs of West Ash St residents when looking at improvements, and put the well-being of our neighborhood first.

This project needs to be done on Broadway where there are large yards and won’t affect so many trees. Add speed bumps to Ash Ash can’t afford to add an additional 13 feet without affecting people’s safety and property.

The neighborhood simply wants speedbumps to deter speeding down Ash Street. We do not want a major highway and especially taking land from our neighbors and destroying the historic fabric of being a treed neighborhood. This plan and the planners are not taking into account the overwhelming opposition to this hairbrained idea. We are not a major collector neighborhood. This project will undoubtedly result in neighbors leaving our quiet tree lined neighborhood just because you are choosing us, the West Ash Neighborhood, as a lower income neighborhood for your big development plans. PLEASE listen to the constituents.

Hoping to improve sidewalks and reduce the speeding on Ash. Please do NOT increase the traffic on Ash. Widening the street would absolutely increase traffic. This improvement should not significantly reduce the front yards of Ash. We love our green spaces. That said, please retain the tress. The yards, the trees, sidewalks for pedestrian enjoyment… these things make our neighborhood special. It’s why we live here. We hope you can revisit your plans with enthusiasm and excitement for making our neighborhood even more vibrant and welcoming. Thank you for reviewing my comment!

If you are going to take private property, reduce home values, and cut down beautiful, old, native trees that serve essential ecosystem functions, you should have an extraordinarily good reason to do so. There is not one here.

I don't have a car and have walked all over central Columbia for the past 30 years. One of the saddest things that I have noticed in my neighborhood is the diminishing tree canopy. There is no sidewalk, pedway or any other amenity that can recompense a pedestrian for the loss of mature trees. The presence of mature trees not only make it possible to walk on hot summer days but they add interest to the walk and provide a contemplative atmosphere which is the best part of any walk any time of the year.