BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — The city of Auburn will soon learn where it must pay attention to its roads after the Auburn City Council on Dec. 16 approved a sweeping traffic study intended to guide development and infrastructure decisions moving forward.
That $698,700 study, which Kimley-Horn Associates will perform over the next year, will focus on traffic volume, city-wide travel patterns, capacities and connections between intersections, corridors and the overall road network.
According to documents included in Tuesday’s meeting, the study will particularly pay attention to the Urban Core and Urban Neighborhood–West zones.
The move comes after the council approved a moratorium halting the construction of multi-unit developments and off-campus student housing in those zones until Nov. 30, 2026, at its Nov. 18 meeting.
Councilors originally voted on that measure after city officials warned that the number of those developments already had or would soon overwhelm public infrastructure in and around downtown Auburn.
All traffic counts will be collected during Auburn University’s Spring 2026 semester, and analysis of the downtown area will take six months to complete – months before the moratorium is set to expire if left unamended.
Based on plans provided to the city by Kimley-Horn, the study will be conducted in several phases.
The study will begin with an analysis of crash data from the past five years to determine any additional locations the study should focus on.
Once that data is analyzed, contractors will collect volume data from 41 intersections clustered around Bragg Avenue, College Street, Drake Avenue, Gay Street, Glenn Avenue, Martin Luther King Drive, Magnolia Avenue, Opelika Road, Samford Avenue and Thatch Avenue.
From there, the study will collect similar data at 65 other intersections around Auburn, review signal timings at each intersection where data is collected and create proposals to mitigate traffic buildup where necessary.
Adjustments to intersection timings are expected to be implemented during Auburn University’s fall 2026 semester to give contractors time to record and analyze before and after data before creating the final report.
In other business
- The council approved a lounge retail liquor license for Grain and Leaf, which is located at 2301 Ogletree Village Lane, Suite 103.
- The council approved a lounge retail liquor license for Charred Oak Premium Spirits, which is located at 2900 E. University Drive, Suites 120 and 125.
- The council approved a concurrence to utilize Industrial Development Board resources and secure additional financing to provide Straehle and Hess USA with incentives to construct an 18,000-square-foot expansion at 284 Enterprise Drive.
- The council approved a memorandum of understanding with the Alabama Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources for resurfacing the Charlotte and Curtis Ward Bike Trail. The city will resurface the trail and perform maintenance, and the ADCNR will cover 50% of the project’s total costs.
- The council approved a $89,445 contract with Bodines Landscape Services for landscaping renovations at Veterans Memorial Park.
- The council approved a $91,344 contract with Clarivate for the renewal of maintenance, support and implementation of upgrades for the Auburn Public Library’s Polaris Integrated Library System.
- The council approved a $73,844 contract with North America Fire Equipment to purchase a breathing air fill station for the Fire Department.
- The council approved a $161,703 contract with Eagleview for aerial photography to survey assets and aid planning, infrastructure and public safety efforts.
- The council approved a $198,800 contract with Barge Design Solutions for a wastewater collection system master plan that evaluates current capacity and identifies capital improvement needs for the next 25 years.
- The council accepted sidewalk and drainage and utility easements from Foresite Group at 544 and 556 E. Glenn Ave. in the East Glenn Townhomes Subdivision.
- The council reappointed Shannon Walden to the Cemetery Advisory Board. Her term begins on Jan. 1, 2026, and ends on Dec. 31, 2029. The council will also reopen the application process to fill another vacancy on the board.
- The council appointed Jay Lockhart to the Water Works Board. His term begins on Jan. 20, 2026, and ends on Jan. 19, 2032.
- The council denied the pre-zoning of 36.6 acres located west of Cox Road and south of 2384 Cox Road to development district housing.
- The council denied the pre-zoning of 36.6 acres located west of Cox Road, west of Dawson Drive and east of the Tamplin Farms Subdivision with the planned development district overlay designation.
- The council voted to exempt vape sales from the gross receipt calculation of the city business license fee since the state will begin taxing those products on Oct. 1, 2026. 50 percent of those revenues will go to the state, 25 percent will go to counties and 25 percent will go to municipalities.
- The council approved a commercial and entertainment use for 178 North Donahue Drive Tattoo, which is located at 178 N. Donahue Drive.
- The council approved a performance residential development conditional use for the 726 Harper Avenue multiple-unit development, which is located at 726 Harper Ave.
- The council approved a performance residential development conditional use for the 732 Mercer Circle multiple-unit development, which is located at 732 Mercer Circle.
- The council approved a conditional use for the expansion of the 2A USA manufacturing facility located at 2410 W. Tech Lane.
- The council approved a performance residential development conditional use for the Judd Avenue multiple-unit development, which is located at 538 Richland Road.
- The city approved a commercial development agreement with Swanson Diamond Center to modify and enhance its building located at 920 Opelika Road. In exchange, the city will remit up to $200,000 in certain sales and use tax to the company.
- The council approved a $383,744 contract with Thalamus to install fiber optic cables at three intersections — S. College Street at E. University Drive, E. University Drive at S. Donahue Drive and N. College Street at Drake Avenue — to improve signal timing and traffic flow.
- The council approved the vacation of three public alleys and rights-of-way located on Duplex Court and authorized the mayor and city manager to execute a quitclaim deed relinquishing them to Lovely Investments and Sweet Auburn Holdings.
