Slow down Southside growth until roadways catch up

Just how good (or bad) is the City's traffic management ordinance? A recent Aiken Standard editorial noted that while many had been concerned about the possible traffic impact of Sam's Club on Whiskey Road, the Woodside proposal for an additional 1000-plus homes "flew" through first reading with unanimous approval. The Standard asked the obvious question - What about the traffic that development will add on Whiskey and Silver Bluff roads? Also last week, the Planning Commission recommended approval for a 250-unit gated community at Powderhouse and Old Powderhouse roads.

With these in mind, a close look is needed at the City's Traffic Management Ordinance. A stated objective of the ordinance is to maintain at least a D service level (traffic volume is greater than 70 percent but less than 90 percent of capacity) on our roadways. To do this, a developer proposing a new project is required to contract for a "traffic study" which analyzes the impact of the project and recommends road improvements to resolve traffic issues it will cause. The problem is that the ordinance defines the study area as within _ mile of the development unless the estimated generation of trips for the new project exceeds 5,000 trips per day! In this latter case the study area is increased to a _ mile which is still woefully inadequate.

I believe it is very likely that Whiskey Road between Pine Log Road and the Mall has already reached service level E (traffic volume is equal to or greater than 90 percent of the road capacity). The Whiskey/Pine Log intersection is the worst in the Aiken area and the update of traffic data currently under way by the City's traffic consultant will almost certainly show it has reached its capacity. Obviously all new homes on South Whiskey or out on Powderhouse will direct much of their traffic to these areas even if they are more than a mere _ or _ mile away. Additionally the traffic ordinance, as it stands, will enable another Whiskey Road situation on East Pine Log as development progresses there.

In 2001 I campaigned for City Council with the commitment to enact a traffic ordinance. My objective was that for any new development the traffic impact would be realistically forecast for a considerably larger study area, and the developer should pay for needed traffic mitigation improvements required by the development (turn lanes and signal lights). Also, impact fees for new developments should be enacted to require new developments to pay their fair share for new roadways and other infrastructure such as water, sewer, public safety, parks and last but not least schools.

Unfortunately, pro-growth advocates in the Chamber of Commerce influenced City Council that such draconian measures would cause a "chill" on growth and Aiken's economic development. Many compromises had to be made to get the current traffic management ordinance passed, but at least a first step was made. Now is time for the next.

The TMO requires that the City's Planning Director maintain an official map listing current levels of service on critical roadways. This must be updated as new traffic studies are done, but the Planning Director also has flexibility to update it more frequently based on other known information.

Adding up the build-out of row houses behind the Mall and of Kensington, Springstone, South Meadows and Cornerstone; multiple equine developments on Chukker Creek, Anderson Pond, Silver Bluff and White Pond roads; Talatha Gardens; over 1,000 new homes in Woodside; another 1,000 in Cedar Creek and others I don't know about, there are probably about 4,000 Southside homes already in the works whose new residents will be on Whiskey Road every day.

The TMO specifies that a traffic study for a new residential project use the Institute of Traffic Engineers criteria of 10 trips per day per household as the standard estimate. Based on the above enumerated developments already in process we can expect 36,000 to 40,000 additional trips per day on our Southside roadways. These should be included in an up-to-date map by the Planning Director.

It is clear that Aiken's traffic is a problem that needs a solution and needs it now. The loopholes in the TMO that loosened the criteria for determining when a traffic study is required and reduced the size of the study area must be closed. Decisions to approve a new development should be made based on maintaining at least a D service level on affected roadways.

More roads and road improvements are needed, and new development must contribute its share for these and other infrastructure via impact fees, rather than expecting existing taxpayers to foot the bill.

And, sometimes money will not be able to solve the problem - there is just no more room. If City Council allows the Powderhouse/Pine Log/Whiskey triangle to be developed at the density of the proposal now before City Council, the traffic problems of today will be only a nuisance compared to tomorrow's gridlock. Our citizens expect their elected leaders to see our City's problems and lead in the solutions. The City Council must act now to apply the brakes to growth on Aiken's Southside until we have a roadway and infrastructure plan, and a guaranteed source of funds to implement the essential improvements.

Dick Smith is a member of Aiken City Council.