AIKEN --- By noon today, the traffic light system in downtown Aiken will begin to look like it did about three weeks ago.
After meeting with state Sen. Greg Ryberg, R-Aiken, and state Rep. Tom Young, R-Aiken, on Wednesday, S.C. Department of Transportation officials agreed to adjust the timing of the light system and eventually allow motorists to make left turns at lights "in the circles" of downtown, Ryberg said in a news release Thursday.
The lighting system was changed last month after a study found that the number of accidents downtown had increased.
DOT officials changed the timing of the lights and only allowed one direction of traffic to proceed at a time.
For instance, as the eastbound lanes of traffic moved on Richland Avenue, westbound traffic would stand still. The light system also prohibited motorists from turning on red after yielding at the intersections of Laurens Street and Richland Avenue, Laurens and Park Avenue, Park and Chesterfield Street and York Street and Richland.
"The upgrades agreed to by SCDOT and the City of Aiken will greatly improve the east-west traffic flow and overall traffic delays," Ryberg said in the release. "The change in the intersection signal system, however, proved unwieldy and ultimately unsafe."
Motorists won't be able to make left turns after yielding at the circular turns today, said Aiken Department of Public Safety Capt. Wendell Hall.
Aiken City Chief Pete Frommer will decide when that change will happen next week.
"We saw a lot of dissatisfaction from the changes in the lights," Hall said. "We got calls, the city got calls and I'm sure DOT got calls as well. The lights will be back the way they've been for years."
All that wasted time and effort and money could have been spent more productively. That is government for you....
No, Curly. That is the ultra-conservative government of South Carolina for you.
As I have said all along, we are now back to Coke Classic. The real problem was in implementation, not concept. Allowing traffic time to clear the intersection was a great idea. However, stopping three sides and showing a close red light and a far green light was too far from the normal or expected operation of divided intersections. As far as safety was concerned, most crashes at these intersections are slow speed and cause minor vehicle damage with few injuries. However, frustrated drivers speeding up to catch a changing light, and distracted or unfamiliar drivers confused by seeing both red and green are a more serious safety issue. What has not been reported is the increase in crashes since the lights were changed. SCDOT should have tried a smaller experiment first then rolled it out to all of the intersections. Also, it would have worked better if they had sensors at each approach to each intersection, eliminating the wait for a cycle when there were no vehicles at the green light. I hope this program is reviewed many other traffic engineers and students to see what went wrong and how not repeat the mistakes made. I am sure there will never be another attempt to reprogram the traffic lights in downtown Aiken, and I say amen to that.
Sure wish I could've been there to see the mass confusion in downtown Aiken.
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