Driving on Forest Drive might be less frustrating by next spring

The first step in alleviating traffic on Forest Drive will come by next spring with the installation of adaptive, or “smart,” traffic signals.

Forest Acres officials announced Thursday that the state Department of Transportation will spend $800,000 to install 20 traffic signals and the electronic system that will respond to the real-time flow of traffic at intersections between Providence Hospital and Interstate 77.

“We’ve got to realize that, exponentially, traffic is continuing to increase everywhere, and we can’t just keep our head in the sand and not try to deal with it,” Forest Acres Mayor Frank Brunson said.

Adaptive traffic signals are “proven to improve the flow” of cars and will be the first step toward better conditions on Forest Drive, he said.

The new traffic signals are expected to be operating by spring 2017, Brunson said. The town of Lexington is the only municipality in the state to have installed smart signals.

The new signals are the first among what are likely to be other projects aimed at decongesting the Forest Drive commercial and residential corridor.

Unsafe traffic conditions, from speeders to badly timed traffic lights to risky left turns, are well-known to those who frequent the corridor.

In February 2015, 81-year-old William Carroll died after a crash in front of Trader Joe’s, a collision that highlighted the dangers of the five-lane stretch.

Carroll’s youngest daughter, Anne Reamer, said she expects the adaptive traffic signals will help, but they won’t be enough.

“They’re supposed to flow the traffic a little bit better. It’s just that in the congested times of day, there’s still not enough room for all the cars,” Reamer said.

Adaptive traffic signals were among the recommendations that came out of a traffic study commissioned by the city before the announcement of a major redevelopment project that will bring more stores, restaurants and some 300 residents to the former site of Cardinal Newman School on Forest Drive.

The number of vehicles that travel Forest Drive daily, currently about 27,000, is expected to reach the road’s capacity – about 30,000 – in the next eight to 15 years, a traffic data analysis found as part of the $125,000 study.

Residents have expressed concerns that the commercial and residential project at the Cardinal Newman site, planned by the Beach Co. of Charleston, will exacerbate traffic problems on and near Forest Drive. To mitigate those concerns, Richland County Council approved making the site a business park that will allow part of its property taxes to fund improvements to Forest Drive.

Now that the state is shouldering the cost of the adaptive traffic signals, the money produced by the business park can go toward other future projects to improve the Forest Drive traffic corridor, Brunson said.

Future projects could include installing landscaped medians and burying power lines.

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Driving on Forest Drive might be less frustrating by next spring."