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 parallel parking would reduce the on‑street total to about 39 spaces; adding 4‑foot buffers to make parallel spots easier for drivers would further reduce that number to an estimated 36 spaces. Staff estimated the conversion could result in a roughly one‑third reduction in on‑street angled parking across the study blocks.

- Medians and lane geometry: Converting angled spaces to parallel parking and narrowing travel lanes would free roughly 12 feet for raised medians in places, which the plan recommends to separate opposing traffic and reduce lane encroachment. Robertson and staff said medians are intended to reduce conflicts, but altering median width to expand sidewalks would add cost and complexity.

- Crosswalks and beacons: The plan recommends high‑visibility ("ladder") crosswalks and RRFB installations at key crossings, including Pine Grove and Clifton Avenue, with pushbuttons and pedestrian refuge islands to allow crossings in two stages.

- Roundabout option: The Planning Commission recommended a roundabout as the preferred intersection treatment at Georgia/Carolina/Jackson. Robertson presented a dual‑lane roundabout concept (two lanes on Georgia, single lanes on north/south approaches) that would require property‑line adjustments in some corners. Robertson said roundabouts reduce certain crash types and break crossing trips into shorter one‑direction exposures for pedestrians, though they have larger footprints and can be costly to build.

Data cited

- Posted speed limit in downtown is 30 mph; corridor speed counts show 85th‑percentile speeds greater than 35 mph at the northern and southern ends of downtown. - Existing daily counts: about 25,000 vehicles per day at the southern (river) end of the corridor, tapering into downtown and increasing toward the Jackson/Carolina segment. - Safety hotspot: crash data from the South Carolina Department of Public Safety showed the corridor’s highest crash concentration near Georgia Avenue at Buena Vista, with many rear‑end and angle crashes on the four‑lane undivided sections. - Long‑term projection: a planning forecast used 2% annual growth that produced a 2047 estimate of substantially higher volumes (consultant slide: as much as ~40,000 vehicles per day at the southern end in a high growth projection).

Tradeoffs and public feedback

Consultants and staff said the biggest tradeoff is fewer on‑street parking places in exchange for wider medians, safer crossings and improved pedestrian comfort. Some council members and business owners raised concerns about the loss of visible on‑street parking in front of small businesses and asked about opportunities to add or better sign existing off‑street or rear‑lot parking.

Tommy Paradis, Planning Director, summarized the Planning Commission’s input: "They unanimously recommended the roundabout instead of the other" options the commission had considered, and asked staff to include gateway signage and explore additional parking options.

Costs, right‑of‑way and funding

Robertson said the roundabout concept has a larger footprint and would require limited acquisition or easement adjustments; three of the corners involved are city‑owned, and the Baptist church corner would see some impact. Staff cautioned that shortening medians on one block and not others could complicate coordination with the South Carolina Department of Transportation and that sidewalk widening to gain more pedestrian space could add an estimated $750,000 to $1.75 million to the project if pursued later in design.

Next steps and city directions

City Administrator Jim Clifford said staff will schedule a public input session on a Monday in May before a future study session, and that the city has issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) for an engineering firm to perform final design and plans. "We'll schedule a public input session on Monday, May," Clifford said; he added that the RFQ is out for engineering procurement.

Staff also said they will continue coordination with SCDOT, which has expressed general conceptual support but will review the roundabout and other intersection changes case‑by‑case.

Ending: The city will host a public input session in May, publish the materials online in advance and return to council with a resolution to accept the planning recommendations and to contract for design work if council chooses to proceed. No formal vote or ordinance was taken during the study session.