Three hot spots top accident list

Three of the region's most dangerous intersections continue to be a problem for both motorists and traffic officials.

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In Richmond County, it's Gordon Highway at Deans Bridge Road. In Aiken county, Whiskey Road at Pine Log Road is the culprit. In Columbia County, Washington Road at Bobby Jones Expressway is a headache.

From 2000 to 2005, the three intersections have stayed near the top of the Augusta Regional Transportation Study's annual intersection accident analysis.

Each crossing handles hundreds of vehicles a day, which makes the prospect of cutting down on collisions crucial, but difficult.

Dennis Ellis, traffic engineering technician for Augusta-Richmond County, said it would take extreme measures to improve the Gordon Highway-Deans Bridge Road intersection.

"We've done the best we could with what's available," Mr. Ellis said of some minor improvements made to the timing of traffic lights in the intersection. "Now the only things left are pretty drastic."

He said most accidents at the intersection occur when vehicles smash the rear ends of other cars while using the right-turning merge lanes onto Gordon Highway. Many motorists don't realize that the person in front must yield to the east- and westbound traffic on the road, he said.

Aside from building a bridge over Gordon Highway, he said removing the right-turning lanes would significantly reduce the number of accidents. But that would increase the amount of congestion at the intersection.

"You can't solve all of the problems with that, but you sure could reduce the number of collisions," he said.

The trade-off between increasing the ease of traffic flow and cutting back on the number of accidents is a tricky one, according to Stephen Strohminger.

As transportation planner for Aiken County, Mr. Strohminger has to cope with a recent boom in population - and drivers. The intersection of Whiskey and Pine Log roads has had 225 accidents in five years. The number jumped from 20 in 2004 to 46 in 2005.

Part of the problem, he said, is the number of businesses that have entrances and exits close to the thoroughfare. Increasing the duration of the lights might cut back on accidents, but it could create a situation in which motorists are more apt to run the traffic light.

In any case, the decision to alter a state route, which all of these are, is up to each state's department of transportation. Both representatives said that, aside from the traffic light tweaking and a road repavement done last year, there are no plans under consideration by the South Carolina and Georgia DOTs for reworking either intersection.

But in Columbia County, where the intersection of Bobby Jones Expressway and Washington Road tops the list, efforts are under way to replace all of the signals at intersections along Washington Road between Owens and Pleasant Home Roads, said Scott Stephens, Georgia DOT area engineer. Mr. Stephens said each signal will be able to identify where the cars are and modify itself based on the level of traffic - something he hopes will improve driver safety.

"In the end it's a safer and more efficient system at that intersection," Mr. Stephens said.

With the 2006 Augusta Regional Transportation Study intersection analysis expected to be completed next month, officials do not expect any serious changes in accident levels over last year.