AIKEN --- Officials with the state Transportation Department say the city's plan to keep Silver Bluff Road two lanes won't ease congestion or the area's increased traffic -- two points originally argued as reasons to widen the road.
Michael Dennis, a regional planning director for the state department, said models show two lanes won't handle the traffic increases that the department has projected for that road.
"Thus far, the model disagrees with going from a five-lane to a two-lane," Mr. Dennis told the Augusta Regional Transportation Study subcommittee Thursday. In June, the state department unveiled its plans for expanding a 1.75-mile section of the two-lane rural road to a five-lane highway to accommodate increased traffic. Residents in Gem Lakes and Woodside Plantation subdivisions opposed the plan, saying it would destroy the area's ambiance.
At the Aiken City Council's meeting Feb. 11, officials approved a design of their own, which calls for Silver Bluff Road to remain two lanes with a slight widening where needed to accommodate turning.
Mr. Dennis told the regional transportation subcommittee that the new design wouldn't solve the congestion problem.
"A two-lane is not easing congestion or increasing capacity of the area," he said. "Our traffic engineer has done a localized model, and it shows that two and three lanes won't help."
City Manager Roger LeDuc said the city "disagreed with their traffic model" because it didn't take certain aspects into account.
"We're certain that most traffic leaving Woodside will do so by East Gate Drive," not Silver Bluff Road, he said.
Mr. Dennis said if the city was set on a two-lane design, then it "may be wise to just do intersection improvements and not road improvements," which will also avoid right of way battles.
The latest traffic counts show the five-lane section of Silver Bluff, from Pine Log Road to near Woodside Plantation, carries more than 17,000 cars a day.
Reach Michelle Guffey at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or michelle.guffey@augustachronicle.com
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