Whiskey Road's title of "busiest road" is nothing new.
For several decades, residents and Aiken City Council members have met and debated what can be done to make the road more manageable. Five years ago, the Aiken Standard interviewed Mayor Fred Cavanaugh, who moved to Aiken in 1953. He said when he moved to the city, only a drive-in movie theater, a florist and a dairy were located on Whiskey Road. But as time progressed, more businesses began to pop up, creating the "Whiskey Road woes," as Cavanaugh referred to them.
Several years ago, and as recently as a few months ago, the City discussed adding connector roads throughout Whiskey Road for travelers who don't need to go the whole stretch of the road, and instead slip into Publix for groceries or shop at WalMart. These are updates on those potential connector roads.
- Dougherty Road to Whiskey Road
In 2013, the 1-mile road reached 94 percent of its design capacity, making the congestion a headache for drivers who wanted to use Dougherty Road as a cut-through from Silver Bluff Road to Whiskey Road.
Aiken County and the City of Aiken hired URS Consultants for $90,000 to do a transportation study. The City has $900,000 allotted from the State Transportation Infrastructure Bank for the additional turn lane and other development.
Roughly $98,000 has been spent to date on engineering. The total estimated cost for the project will be almost $1.2 million.
Aiken's interim City Manager Roger LeDuc said he hopes to have an agreement between the City and a consultant to acquire the right-of-way needed to add an additional right-hand turn lane from Dougherty Road onto Whiskey Road by Council's Monday meeting.
- Dougherty Road to the Publix Shopping Center and Aiken Mall
Recently in a 6 to 1 vote, with Council member Lessie Price against, Council voted to sell the 911 Murrah Ave. property to make room for a connector road from Christee Place into the Publix Shopping Center.
The home was sold to S&C Properties for $32,000, and the property to its right will be used as the road leading into Publix, LeDuc said.
"We met with representatives from the centers (Inland American) based in Chicago and they are reviewing our concept plans," LeDuc said. "We expect to hear from them anytime."
This project has been in the works for several years; in 2010 then City Engineering and Utilities Director Larry Morris said the project was put on hold because the City was having trouble acquiring the land.
"If you look at the shopping center, to the right of Publix, probably more than half of those store fronts are vacant," LeDUc said. "So when the representatives from Chicago, and two from Atlanta, went through and looked at it, they realized there's a lot of traffic coming through (that area)."
LeDuc said with this potential connector road, the negatives may be added traffic and some congestion, but the position is that because of traffic, those vacant store fronts may not stay vacant for long.
Part of the connector road into Publix would also lead into the Aiken Mall. A connector from Dougherty Road to the Aiken Mall is currently No.1 on the City's Capital Project Sales Tax summary as of March 1. That project had a budget of $350,000, and to date, about $207,000 of funds are available. The connector road would be built between Dougherty Road and the Aiken Mall Publix area.
- Powderhouse, Whiskey Road and Centennial Parkway Connector
From the 2004 Capital Project Sales Tax referendum, voted by City residents, $325,000 was approved to conduct a study and purchase right-of-way for a parallel connector road along Whiskey Road from Centennial Parkway to a new east and west connector road. Another $1 million was approved to begin work on a Whiskey Road and Powderhouse Road connector.
That project's budget stands at $5.5 million as of Feb. 1; that project will sit however due to a lack of funds, LeDuc said.
In a March 31 letter to the editor, Aiken resident Bill Busser said these connectors were closed out "to fund project overruns." But LeDuc said it was never the City's "intention to build a road without a developer participating in some of the cost and providing lane for the road."
"That project was always at the bottom of the list due to the fact it could be moved higher if a developer came forward with a project on the vacant land," LeDuc said. " ... The preliminary planning is still available for the road and will be built sometime in the future."
The Powderhouse Connector was intended to connect Powderhouse Road with the mall and East Gate Road with Centennial Drive. In 2010, the Aiken Standard reported the entire project was an estimated $14 million, and at the time, the City was awaiting approval of the Sales Tax, which would fund $5.5 million of the first part of the project between East Gate Drive and Centennial Drive.
Beginning work on Whiskey and Powderhouse roads has about $740,000, which has since been put to the side following a recent Council meeting.
"If a developer comes through," LeDuc said, the City "will find a way to build those roads."
- Dougherty Road connector to Wal-Mart
The City is currently looking at alternative routes from the south or Dougherty Road into the Wal-Mart shopping center because Wal-Mart did not want a connection onto their property, LeDuc said.
"Behind Wal-Mart is a lot of private property, and about five to six months ago, we met with the developer that is looking at possibly doing something and had some preliminary talks; one thing mentioned is we definitely want a connector to Wal-Mart," LeDuc said.
From Capital Project Sales Tax, $700,000 was approved for a connector road from Dougherty Road to Wal-Mart; that never came to fruition. The City spent $3.4 million due to legal and water detention issues. LeDuc said most of that cost had nothing to with the road itself, but was used to develop the City's stormwater detention.
The Aiken Standard will follow up on these projects as they move along.
Maayan Schechter is the local government reporter with Aiken Standard. Follow her on Twitter @MaayanSchechter.