In 2018, Bicycling magazine named Columbia one of the “Best Bike Cities in America” with a rank of 46. The magazine “hit the streets and talked to local advocates, officials and everyday riders” while considering more than 100 cities for this designation.
“We have a very engaged biking and nonmotorized transportation community,” former Director of Columbia Public Works David Nichols said. “It’s nice to be recognized for the countless hours our City’s staff, citizens and leadership have dedicated to building new infrastructure with a ‘complete streets’ approach through a Vision Zero lens. Funding will always be a challenge, but whether your mode of transportation is by foot, bus, car, wheelchair, or bicycle, it’s our immediate and long-term goal to make every street safe and accessible.”
Columbia has been able to make significant progress in its complete streets approach in no small part to the Capital Improvement Sales tax approved by Columbia voters as well as local, state, and federal partnerships and grants. In 2006, the GetAbout Columbia program was launched with a $22.4 million grant from the National Highway Administration. Funding was renewed in 2012 with $5.9 million. This funding was used for numerous trails, pedestrian signals, sidewalks, bike lanes, bike boulevards and bike-friendly pedways.
Sidewalk renovation cost share program
To help with the cost of sidewalk repairs for residential properties and for central business district properties, the City has a sidewalk renovation cost-sharing program. This program will assist property owners with technical support to repair sidewalks and will provide cost share assistance for the physical sidewalk repairs. The program will provide 50% reimbursement for the construction of the sidewalk panel repairs and 100% reimbursement for the construction of curb ramp repairs.
For more information about this program, please visit the Sidewalk renovation cost share program page.
Report a concern
To report a concern, please use the online form.
Maps & guides
Bike boulevards
Signs & pavement markings
- Special Needs Signs
- Street marking experiments
- Loop detector
- Directional marking
- Bike Boulevard Striping
Pedestrian crosswalk marking
Pedestrian safety is of prime importance when a community is encouraging walking as a means of recreation and transportation. Nowhere is the potential greater for conflict than when pedestrians cross streets.
Safe pedestrian crossings are dependent on many variables. Motorists must know and obey the vehicle laws which require them to yield to pedestrians at marked and unmarked crossing locations. Education of pedestrians regarding safety near traffic and at crossings is also important. Pedestrians must use crosswalks when they are provided.
To facilitate installation of new marked and signed pedestrian crossings, the City of Columbia follows the guidelines in the current version of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTDC).
Bike lane markings
Shared Lane Marking: A “sharrow” is a pavement marking of a bike stencil with two arrows above it. These are painted on streets that are good for bike traffic, but are too narrow for separate bike lanes. The sharrow indicates the safe spot where a bicyclist should position himself, and lets motorists know that this part of the street is shared with bicyclists. Sharrows are also used in locations where a bike lane ends and bicyclists must merge with other traffic.
Bike Lane Marking: A bike lane is a portion of the roadway that has been designated by striping and pavement markings for use by bicyclists. Bike lanes give bicyclists and motorists their own, assigned and separate spaces on the road. Bike lane markings include a solid line and a stencil of a person on a bike with an arrow above to indicate the proper direction for travel. Bicyclists should always ride in the direction indicated by the arrow painted on the street.
These street markings are part of an ongoing effort to help motorists and bicyclists share the road safely. To name a few, Fifth Street, Old Highway 63 and Chapel Hill Road are all marked.
Parking & racks
Register your bike
The Columbia Fire Department in cooperation with the Columbia Police Department offers the service of registering bicycles. Between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., bicycles may be brought to any Columbia Fire station to be registered. The owner will be asked to complete a simple registration form and a registration sticker will be affixed to the bicycle. The registration card will then be sent to the Columbia Police Department. In the event the bicycle is lost, stolen, or recovered, the registration sticker may allow Columbia Police to locate the owner.
The city of Columbia requires that each bicycle within the city limits be licensed or registered (Ordinance 14-494).
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