A loud rumbling sounds from the York Street bridge each time a vehicle crosses its weathered wooden planks.

Residents on York Street between South Boundary and Park Avenue won a victory, of sorts, from the city and the state about the old railroad bridge.

At an Aiken City Council meeting in August, residents learned that the city had received permission from the state highway department to install a speed hump on York Street in an effort to slow vehicles down before they reach the bridge.

One speed hump in the northbound lane is a victory but also a disappointment to residents, who also had requested a speed hump in the southbound lane.

"Cars speed on both sides of York Street," said Celeste Dixon, whose house is next to the bridge. "It was disappointing to hear that they were only going to take care of half the problem."

The residents say slowing motorists would do two things: prevent pedestrians from being hit by passing cars and reduce frequent repairs to the bridge.

The constant stream of vehicles loosens the boards of the railroad bridge.

"Naturally, the faster cars go over it, the more repair that needs to be done to the bridge," Councilman Don Wells said. "And we felt the proper way to address that was the speed hump."

But York Street is also U.S. Highway 1, a state-maintained road, so the city needed permission from the South Carolina Department of Transportation to install the humps.

Ms. Dixon said she learned that the state did not approve a speed hump in the southbound lane because there is a traffic light at Park Avenue, so motorists coming from that direction would not be going fast over the bridge from Park Avenue to South Boundary.

The light is not always red, Ms. Dixon said.

"Cars speed over that side of the bridge as well," she said.

City Manager Roger LeDuc said a hump in the southbound lane is still a possibility.

"We plan to observe the results of the speed hump in the northbound lane and. based on the results, determine if one in the southbound lane is needed," he said.

The transportation official who went to the bridge at Ms. Dixon's request marked 16 rotten boards that needed either to be replaced or tightened.

Ms. Dixon said she and other residents in the area would like to be see the bridge replaced.

Mr. LeDuc, however, said that the bridges at York Street and Fairfield and Union streets have been wooden for decades and that the city doesn't intend to ask DOT to replace it.

That puzzles Ms. Dixon.

"York Street is a main thoroughfare with an old wooden bridge, and we learned it's not an historic monument," she said. "It's a heavily traveled bridge on both sides, more so than the (fairly) new bridge on Newberry Street next to the Wilcox. You rarely see a car go over that bridge."

Reach Michelle Guffey at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or michelle.guffey@augustachronicle.com.