Leaders must confront city’s ‘traffic dragons’ No. 1: Augusta Road
We write to ask our elected city officials, along with those running against them, about two things related to increased traffic inside Greenville’s city limits, caused in large part by non-residents.
We call them “traffic dragons.”
We need help with what seems to be a contradiction in goals for Greenville’s roads, especially those bordering Alta Vista. The Greenville 2040 plan approved earlier this year clearly indicates a proposed corridor between the nodes at the County Square redevelopment and other nodes on Augusta Road. These corridors are major arteries for increased traffic in the future.
Recent press reports, however, indicate there will be further constriction of the initially proposed corridor down Augusta Road. Existing “road diets” effectively restrict traffic on Augusta Road. Others under active consideration extend the reach of the diet plan.
Events might well have caught up with the story, and maybe GVL2040 no longer applies to Augusta past Church Street headed toward nodes on Augusta. The question for the Alta Vista neighborhood is this, based on early reports on the University Ridge redevelopment, which stated that there will be “5,500 jobs” at the site: Where is all the traffic from these 5,500 jobs, which otherwise would have used the Augusta Road corridor, going to go? Does it dump onto Church Street and Mills Avenue once the road goes from five lanes to two at the intersection of Church and Augusta Road?
The established streets of Alta Vista of McDaniel Avenue, McIver Street, Cleveland Street and Crescent Avenue will all become attractive options for drivers aided by WAZE and other traffic-avoiding apps.
No. 2: Church Street bridge
Raising its head for residents of Alta Vista is the SCDOT project to rehab the 0.32-mile Church Street bridge.
According to the SCDOT: “It is assumed that the project will utilize staged construction to ensure the maintenance of traffic of one (1) lane on U.S. 29 (Church Street) in each direction during the construction.”
A train wreck is right around the corner if Greenville’s city leaders approve detours through established neighborhoods to accommodate the change to one lane on the bridge during construction.
The question defines the priority of our city leaders: Is it on the voting, taxpaying citizens? Is it on commuters and visitors using the 1,700 feet of the bridge? We would submit that this is the quintessential, defining moment for our future.
Are we in favor of our wonderful visitors, or do we favor our residents, the voting taxpayers who built and maintain the destination for our welcomed visitors?
It’s the same struggle between fulltime residents (taxpaying voters) and commuters and tourists from outside the city.
We offer police protection, parking, free entertainment, and then we clean up the mess when they leave.
Turning over neighborhood streets to these non-residents could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. This needs attention now to avoid a foreseeable train-wreck.
Voters in the Nov. 7 city elections have a clear measuring stick. We hope citizens will use it when they decide who will govern Greenville. These leaders will choose who Greenville’s partners will be in planning and growing our future.
It is our hope that these leaders will remember who invited them to the dance when they face the questions related to Greenville’ growth. It all starts with today’s traffic solutions. Diets or corridors? Citizens or non?
Cathy and Bern Mebane have witnessed Greenville’s transformation since they moved here between college and grad school for a six-month stint at The News in 1971. They decided to stay and have lived in Alta Vista since 1972. Bern Mebane is a former publisher of The Greenville News.