By admin 
A busy thoroughfare in West Columbia will be down to one lane starting Monday to allow for roadwork.
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The right lane heading east on Meeting Street will close to traffic beginning Monday. Sept. 14, leaving only one eastbound lane open between the 400 block and the 900 block.
The closure is part of West Columbia’s Meeting Street Improvement Project to bring pedestrian and streetscape improvements to one of the city’s most heavily trafficked arteries.
Business entrances and driveways will remain open during construction so that the roadwork doesn’t disrupt any local businesses, the city said in a media release.
Meeting Street carries approximately 12,300 vehicles a day and is an important connector to the city’s River District, directly across the Gervais Street bridge from downtown Columbia.
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“The project will reduce the number of travel lanes, creating space for wider sidewalks, additional on-street parking, landscaped medians, dedicated turn lanes, new street trees, and improved pedestrian crossings,” the city said. “These improvements are designed to help slow traffic, provide safer and more convenient places to cross Meeting Street, and create additional separation between pedestrians and moving vehicles.”
Work will begin with the 400 block, and passersby are warned to be alert for construction and demolition work in the area.
The city received the necessary permits from the S.C. Department of Transportation in August. Its general contractor, AOS Specialty Contractors, began work on Monday, Sept. 7, in the city-owned parking lot next to the Artisan Market Pavilion at 425 Meeting St. The parking lot should reopen on Sept. 25.
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