How analysts avoided discussion of the need for a new traffic signal by advocating a “two-stage” left-hand turn…into another left-hand turn lane.
by Don Moniak
March 9, 2025
In February 2024, a 250-home development known as the May Royal Drive subdivision on Aiken’s Northside—bounded by Osbon Drive, Crosland Park, May Royal Drive, and Highway One North (Columbia Highway)—was approved by Aiken City Council.
Before it reached City Council, the Planning Commission had to issue a recommendation for Council to approve the development; which it did by a narrow vote of 4-3. That vote only occurred because the Planning Commission originally put the approval process on hold until a traffic impact analysis (TIA) was completed. So unlike some developments where a study can be completed post-approval, this TIA was mandated pre-approval.
The May Royal subdivision TIA was completed in response to citizen concerns expressed during the first public hearing held by the Planning Commission. But the actual study was only summarized for decision makers and never publicly released (the study can be downloaded here.).
Instead of receiving the actual study, the Planning Commission and City Council both received a filtered interpretation that left out two pivotal facts regarding the intersection of May Royal Drive and Columbia Highway.
First, the TIA glossed over and then dismissed the impacts posed by Kaolin Road, despite that portion of the intersection having been identified as problematic by numerous area residents—a fact later acknowledged by City Councilman Ed Girardeau during the second Public Hearing.
Secondly, one conclusion in the TIA was that a traffic light was unnecessary at May Royal Drive and Hwy 1 because the consultant asserted that left-hand turns from May Royal Drive onto Columbia Highway can be made in two stages (Figure 1).
The two stages involved motorists crossing the northbound lane to reach the median center turn lane, and then merging into southbound traffic.
That assertion, dangerous enough as it was, had one major problem—there is no center lane median at that location. Instead, there are left hand turn lanes from the South onto Kaolin Road and from the North onto May Royal Drive (Figure 2). A two-stage left hand turn at that location was a recipe for head-on collisions.
When this information was raised during the February 26, 2024, City Council public hearing, neither the developer nor its traffic consultant disputed that a mistake had been made in their analysis.
The concept plan for original 250-home subdivision (itself reduced from 335 homes) on 91 acres expired in late 2024 when the developer failed to purchase the three parcels of land necessary for the development.
This week, the developer is back before the Planning Commission with a downsized plan of 185 homes on 51.6 acres (see pages 44 to 77 of the Planning Commission agenda packet).
Despite the downsizing of the project, traffic at the difficult intersection of May Royal drive may be a larger issue since this time there is no other access to Highway 1N. In fact, the project only has one access point along May Royal for residents, with an emergency exit proposed at a sharp corner of Osbon Drive. The latter option was rejected during the 2024 deliberations after strenuous objections from neighborhoods.
Avoiding Osbon Drive was not the only promise made by the developer that appears to be on the verge of reneging. Prior to final approval, the developer also promised a 75-foot vegetative buffer between their high-density development and the surrounding neighborhood that is dominated by much larger, 1-3 acre lots; as well as a fence around the entire subdivision. Today, the developer is back to proposing 10-25 foot buffers and fencing only along backyards.
The latest proposal is likely to face tough questioning about traffic, the one-way-in-one-way-out access plan, and the failure to live up to promises made just one year ago.