Story Published:
Aug 28, 2008 at 7:40 PM EST
Story Updated:
Oct 25, 2008 at 10:55 AM EST
Whiskey Road in Aiken County is experiencing a business boom. Some who live there say more shopping choices are causing more congestion on the busy road.
One year ago, NBC Augusta told you about plans to help ease the traffic on that road.
Now, phase one of the Whiskey Road project should be done in the next 60 days. Drivers like Michelle Beranke say it's long overdue.
For Beranke, the early bird does not catch the worm, it misses the traffic.
“It's very busy. If I can get anything I need done on Whiskey Road done before 11:30 a.m. and I can be off Whiskey Road, I'm a happy person.”
She went shopping Thursday morning at Books-A-Million which is just one of several new stores built in the popular area.
“It seems all the businesses are located on Whiskey Road,” Beranke said.
Businesses that are making the road even more congested.
Stephen Strohminger of the Aiken County Planning Department said, “Since I first started with the county, most of my phone calls were about what are you going to do about Whiskey Road”.
Strohminger said the answer was to build a new road.
“It will take traffic from Whiskey Road and take them over to the Silver Bluff area.”
Strohminger said the project has four phases.
“Phase one runs from Chime Bell Church Road to Anderson Pond Road.”
It will be complete in about 60 days. Then on to phase two.
“We have an engineering team that's working on phase two that takes it from the pond up to where it will split off to tie in with Glenwood Drive.”
Although it will take four phases for the entire project to be complete, once phase two is finished, drivers will be able to access Silver Bluff Road.
“It should be done around early spring next year," said Strohminger.
Until then, Stacy Toole, who has lived in Aiken for 21 years, will brave the traffic so she can take care of business.
“There are a lot of places on Whiskey Road, so really you can't dodge the traffic. You have to go with the flow,” said Toole.
A second road connecting Whiskey Road to Powderhouse Road is tentatively set to be built in 2020.
