The city of Augusta sits on Georgia’s eastern border, just across the Savannah River from the South Carolina towns of North Augusta and Aiken. Most would consider Augusta to be a sleepy Southern town, with nearly 200,000 residents, which places it well outside the country’s hundred largest cities.

For 51 weeks out of the year, the city’s robust working-class economy gets undergirded by reliable employers, most notably Fort Gordon and Augusta University. Traffic moves freely past the strip centers that line Washington Road, the main north-south corridor that roughly parallels the river.