North Augusta council hears final Georgia Avenue traffic‑calming recommendations, schedules public input

City Administrator Jim Clifford and planning staff presented a traffic‑calming plan for Georgia Avenue on Monday that packages changes intended to slow vehicle speeds, improve pedestrian crossings and reorganize on‑street parking in downtown North Augusta.

The plan, prepared by consultant Joe Robertson of McKinley Warren and reviewed by the Planning Commission, would convert existing angled on‑street parking to parallel parking on several downtown blocks, add raised landscape medians, install high‑visibility crosswalks and rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs), and study a dual‑lane roundabout at the five‑legged Georgia/Carolina/Jackson intersection.

"The goals for this project specifically are to collect data, engage with the public and stakeholders and decision makers to be able to identify any issues or concerns along Georgia Avenue and then, come up with specific improvements and projects that could be used to improve pedestrian safety and traffic calming in downtown," said Joe Robertson, the project consultant.

Why it matters: Georgia Avenue is both North Augusta’s main street and a through corridor into South Carolina. Staff said the corridor combines traffic volumes, reported crashes and pedestrian crossings that warrant a coordinated engineering response rather than piecemeal fixes.

Key recommendations and findings

- Parking: Converting the corridor’s angled on‑street spaces (currently 58 angled spaces on the blocks studied) to…