The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) recently installed an upgrade to the traffic signal system in downtown Aiken to address the need to improve safety on downtown streets due to the sharply rising number of crashes as revealed by an SCDOT traffic study.  The traffic study was initiated as a part of SCDOT’s regular review of signal systems to determine update needs.  Those reviews occur every 12 to 15 years.

            Upon the requests of Senator Greg Ryberg and Representative Tom Young, who both expressed concern over the changes to the signal system, SCDOT has reviewed the new traffic signal operations and has made some adjustments to the current operation.  SCDOT will be changing the timing on Park and Richland Streets to allow east and west traffic to run simultaneously, which is how it operated on the old timing schedule. Side street operations will have the new safety features that allow left turn motorists to continue through the intersection without stopping in the median.  This should provide a balance between improved safety and minimizing the congestion as much as possible.   Should it be determined that this operation is not feasible, SCDOT still has the option to revert to the old timing system on all downtown roads.  These changes will be in effect by end of day Tuesday, March 9, 2010.

               SCDOT’s highest priority is making our state’s roads and highways as safe as possible. We thank the elected officials and City staff who have assisted SCDOT as engineers worked out the timing of traffic signals in downtown Aiken.

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