On Thursday, the subcommittee of the S.C. Augusta Regional Transportation Study will consider two new requests, one of which is an amendment to the Transportation Improvement Program to include funding for the proposed widening of University Parkway.
The 4 p.m. meeting is open to the public in the Aiken County Government Center's Sandlapper Room, 1930 University Parkway.
The full consideration asks the subcommittee to amend the 2035 long-range transportation plan and fiscal year 2015-18 transportation-improvement program to include the University Parkway widening project by adding $10.6 million in funds - $4.6 million provided by the state and $6 million provided by the City of Aiken and Aiken County.
The widening project would stretch from Richland Avenue West to the Robert M. Bell Parkway to University Parkway.
Current designs for the project include widening the existing two-lane roadway to a five-lane section and adding a raised landscaped median, bike lanes and sidewalks, according to the project's advanced planning report.
The subcommittee also will review a request to remove Whiskey Road drainage improvements project from the subcommittee's fiscal year 2015-18 transportation improvements program.
Under old business, the subcommittee will hear a request to re-rank the Hitchcock Parkway corridor improvements project. South Carolina Department of Transportation representatives, in February, told the subcommittee the project held a ranking of No. 2; that ranking however is subject to change by Thursday's meeting.
The initial plans to expand the Bypass were stalled in September 2014, after it was announced the City was $8 million short on funds.
The project will now consist of corridor projects, which SCDOT will have to re-analyze, looking to add potential turning lanes, passing lanes, acceleration and deceleration lanes.
Maayan Schechter is the local government reporter with Aiken Standard. Follow her on Twitter @MaayanSchechter.