LEXINGTON, S.C. — Lexington town officials are updating their Transportation Improvement Plan (L-TIP) to address traffic challenges stemming from rapid growth.
First launched in 2016, the L-TIP serves as a blueprint for identifying areas in need of traffic upgrades, such as turn lanes and traffic signals.
With the town’s expansion and increased development, officials from Town Council want to expand the study area beyond municipal boundaries, growing the budget from $115,000 to $225,000.
“We’ve expanded it to really reach out into areas that are not in the town limits, but they influence the town,” said Councilman Todd Lyle.
The proposed update will include traffic nodes outside Lexington, such as Old Cherokee Road, Old Chapin Road, and areas near Gilbert. Lyle says these locations may not fall within town limits but still affect Lexington’s traffic flow.
“So like, if you go down Old Cherokee Road or Old Chapin Road, or heading out towards Gilbert, there are traffic nodes that are clearly going to influence the town of Lexington, but they're not inside of our municipal limits," Lyle said. "And so what this study does is it expands the footprint to allow us to study areas that are just outside of the municipal limits, but they clearly have an influence and an effect on the town.”
The L-TIP identifies problem areas and ensures developers cover necessary upgrades. It has helped get funding for projects like a turn lane at a gas station along Sunset Boulevard, where crews recently worked to improve traffic flow.
“The traffic on that lane is backing into the traffic that would be continuing on down Sunset. So that was, that's one of them,” said Charles Rice, a Lexington resident.
The plan also positions Lexington for grant funding, enabling the town to pursue larger-scale projects like highway widening. By identifying “shovel-ready” traffic improvement projects, Lexington can secure external funding.
Town Council approved the budget increase in a meeting Monday night. The timeline for the expanded study is around 12 months.