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Board of Selectmen Meeting Rte 114 Listening Session

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We've cut it back and work that way very frequently.
And the interesting thing is it don't seem to be local people
is treating if you need and to ensure going up to God's on a compound way
or going up into the department.
So I don't know that helps at all, but there is definitely an issue here.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I appreciate the insight into the crash data.
That's helpful.
Hi, Jennifer McCord again.
I'd like to say that the intersection at Kieser Lake
has always been.
I mean, as a kid, as an adult, as, you know, now a senior,
it's always boggled my mind trying to get through there
because you're never sure which way anybody's going to go.
And I think, I would assume that there's quite a few crashes in there
because you do get a lot of summer residents that come in
to enjoy the pond of the lake.
And, you know, I really see that as a concern and a problem.
And like I said before, the drainage all through there,
a two-foot shoulder in some spots,
extremely generous and usually, you know, the hills come right down to the edge of the road.
There is no ditch line in many, many spots, which causes, again, water to go across the road
and freeze during the winter.
I'm also the president of the Blazell Lake Association.
And back in 2021, the culvert closest to Andrews Ave over 20,
topped and wiped out our ramp.
We did an emergency fix on it, and we went to DOT, and then on further south, there's another
culvert that we call sheep dip, that what's happened is that there's no outlet protection,
so it's actually created an island out in the lake because of the turbidity.
We went to DOT, talked to them, trying to get help and everything else, and we were told that
those culverts weren't on their priority list.
So we are now in the process of trying to get a wetlands permit to finish the boat ramp repairs
when we lower the lake in 28.
But it's kind of disconcerting to do these fixes to spend quite a bit of money,
you know, up first of probably $50,000 in total, when we could have another big storm
and it could wipe out our boat ramp again because that culvert is undersized.
and I like how you had the picture of one of the worst places is because that pavement
was never repaired after 21.
They just left it.
And years after years after years, they just pave over everything.
So anything that's happening underneath is just being mirrored right up through and causing more problems.
I'm sure where the woman that was just speaking was talking is it's the same thing.
You've got, there's no way of getting the water away.
You need underdrains to get the water out of the subsurface, and it's just not happening.
And like I said, from New London all the way to 103, it's the same problem all the way through.
And it gets worse in Bradford.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Michael F. again, I'm not going to repeat whatever it's been said because it's 100%.
The only thing I'm going to add is north of south.
the Sutton transfer station when you start going into those S-turns, there's a lot of less
visibility because of bamboo, tree saplings, and the state doesn't do anything about that.
And I feel like when you're coming around that first bend after the transfer station, you can't
see anything. You're going and blinded because of the bamboo, because that bamboo just, it's like
seven and a half feet tall. It takes the visibility away. So I feel like hopefully in your study
you can also put, you know, invasive species as causing less visibility or something like that
because those S-turns are awful and you cannot see anything until you're right there with it.
At least if that was cut, you would see, you know, a 20 more foot range, I guess.
So that's it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Does anybody else have any comments or concerns for Sutton?
Anything else online?
We did have some support voiced for Crossbox at Kieser Lake, the boat launch in Blaisdale.
would be helpful and just a lot of seconding for dealing with the vegetation.
Thank you.
All right.
And moving on to Bradford and Warner.
So these are the locations that we're going to highlight.
Again, we're looking at the entire corridor.
So if you have comments or concerns anywhere on 114 through Bradford or Warner, please bring
those up as well.
So this is.
is approaching East Main Street.
It's heading north.
You can see the two travel lands you go to shoulder on the right.
And we do have a sidewalk on the left, but it's clearly in very poor condition.
And I believe it ends at this intersection as well.
I know there have been concerns here about safety and pedestrian traffic
and the possibility of extending the sidewalk.
The sidewalk has been discussed in the past.
So that's something that we'll be looking into as well.
And here's the typical section for that one.
You've got the 12.
foot northbound and southbound travel lanes, two foot shoulder on the left side,
on the right side, five foot shoulder on the left, and then the five foot sidewalk, the grass buffer
width varies.
And the photo I showed it was, obviously, there wasn't really a grass buffer until you get
closer to the intersection.
And then here's the approach to Route 103.
This is also looking north as well.
You've got the northbound travel lane and then right turn lane on the right side and the southbound
travel lane on the left.
And then this is a signalized intersection as well.
So here's the typical section for that.
12 foot travel lane, 12 foot right turn lane,
a 5 foot shoulder on the right hand side,
and then a 12 foot shoulder southbound traveling,
sorry, and 5 foot shoulder on the southbound side.
Next we have Lake Massacicum.
You can see the lake on the right, the guardrail,
two travel lanes.
Shoulders are a little bit wider here.
Again, I know there have been safety concerns in this area,
especially,
around the boat launch.
There have been concerns with trucks with boat trailers,
maneuvering around the area,
parking on the shoulders.
There's a curve in the road right there,
and we know that speeds are high in the area.
So there have been a lot of safety concerns
as a result of that as well.
So here's the typical section here,
12 feet traveling again,
three foot shoulders on both sides,
the guardrail on the lake on the right,
and then the wooded area on the left.
And then this is just the typical section
throughout the southern part of Bradford
and basically all
of the mileish or so stretch through Warner
to traveling in either directions
and kind of wider shoulders in this area.
And it's mostly wooded with residences here and there.
So our typical section for this area,
again, 12 foot travelings, three foot shoulders
on either side.
And the crash data for Bradford and Warner,
you can see it's again spread throughout the entire corridor.
It's a little bit of higher crash along the curve
along Lake Massacicum,
I think around where the boat long
and the curve and the high speeds that I mentioned.
So that kind of backs up people's concerns about safety in that area.
And then the pavement condition through Bradford and Warner,
a very poor condition on the northern side,
and then it does get better through the southern section of Bradford and Warner.
Challenging and considerations that we've noticed so far,
the pavement condition, especially on the very north section,
lack of sidewalks and bike accommodations,
the East Main Street intersection,
the safety and pedestrian traffic concerns,
and the desire to possibly extend the sidewalk.
I get the safety concerns at Lake Massacum that I mentioned,
especially centered around the boat launch with the high speeds
and the horizontal curve and the trucks with trailers maneuvering around
and using the shoulders for parking.
And the 114 and 103 intersection,
there is some bicycle use in that area.
Again, high speeds, and there's the potential for traffic calming in that area,
so that's something we'll be looking into as well.
Does anybody have any comments?
or concerns they want to share about Bradford and Hennacher?
Or sorry, Bradford and Warner.
Brian Al, Fire Chief Town of Bradford.
So I did complete the online survey.
East and West Main Street, Old Warner Road,
and Route 114 was one of our area of concern.
That's the major feeder to Kiersaer's Regional Elementary School at Bradford.
So it's slow traffic, that corner coming up, going north.
The visibility and the speed doesn't allow.
allow traffic to make it out. We've had numerous motor vehicle crashes in that area.
Plus, site distance, there's a fence at one of the houses so you can't see out to southbound traffic
on 114. So that's a major concern.
The next concern that I put in was the intersection of 103 and 114.
We've had numerous crashes there, too.
Before I get into the crashes, where are you getting your crash data?
Where does the crash data come from?
So who's inputting that data?
It's Department of Safety's where it's coming from as reported by agencies around state.
Okay. I just was making sure that, you know, all the motor vehicle accidents are making it in to kind of see some of those blips on there
because we do cover the entire length of Warner as well for Bradford. We're first automatic on that area.
So Bradford and Warner we cover because it's a long distance.
from exit 9 over to 114, so we're already there.
So back to the 114-103 intersection.
There's two lights going in both directions.
And both change green.
However, when you have, let's just look at 114, you have 114 coming south,
turning on to 103.
The northbound traffic might be deceived that somebody's turning across
and other traffic goes around them.
So we have traffic that goes around turning.
traffic. I have met with Chris Turgeon and Mark Avery several times to kind of talk to those folks
to see about turning lanes there or at least putting a arrow that's flashing yellow for left
hand turns or whatever turns to be able to make it there. It's an easy fix to try to let people
know, use caution to go through there. How traffic would run into the broad side of a tractor trailer
is beyond me, but we head two commercial vehicle accidents at that intersection
in a matter of a couple weeks.
So it happens because the speeds through there is pretty excessive.
I'd probably say one of the things that you might want to show in your display is the speeds along 114.
You know, your crash data may be emphasized by the speeds that occur.
So maybe if it's 30 miles an hour, it's not showing track.
you know, crashes, but it's at 50 plus miles an hour.
There's showing more crashes there.
A couple of your pictures show the skid marks.
That's a good indication of reaction time.
And you can see that cars are coming into it pretty hot
and trying to come as cross-traffic is crossing those areas.
Our next area is definitely the boat launch.
Not only is it a congested area for trailers parking, which is allowed,
but it's traffic that's turning with boat traffic.
And the speeds through that area is 50 plus miles an hour.
And the amount of rubber that you see on the road in that area is pretty significant.
We've had numerous crashes at that intersection, too.
And that could be easily mitigated by signage, such as congested area, head, reduced speed, compact area,
or something in that area.
The next area that we have concerns, we call it the Warner,
Bradford S-turns in the area of Daypon.
We've talked to DOT about chevrons to indicate turns.
That's why there's white crosses on the sides of the road there,
because traffic goes straight.
Because as you're coming down there, it's pretty dark.
There's no illumination of anything in there.
If they had chevrons to indicate that there is turns,
maybe people would have some reaction time to correct.
Plus the slope of the road in that area is pitch.
ditch, which does bring people to the ditches.
And that's kind of a sheltered area for ice and everything else in that general area.
But those are some of our concerns in that area.
It's been brought to DOT over the last three years, similar to some of the other comments before.
We've yet to see signs or chevrons come up.
You know, I try to always introduce an issue with a resolution, and I think sometimes signage is a good preventive.
to try to indicate to people that there should be caution ahead.
But, you know, I also, you know, we're looking at 114, but the only two traffic lights in that area is 103 in East and West Main Street and 113.
A lot of traffic comes through there, the amount of commercial traffic that is rolling up there between log trucks, fuel trucks, everything else.
My fire station.
at the intersection of 103 and east and west Main Street and the Jake brakes that come through that area is unbelievable the speed of the traffic.
And those commercial vehicles take a long time to come to arrest.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Jennifer McCord again. I know you're surprised.
Great comments. I agree with all of that. The only thing I would really add is north of Main Street,
there are two places where the driveways come down and there are literal springs that come out during the winter and the spring that I have seen multiple, many, you know, majority of the time I've lived around here, seeing basically glaciers go across the road.
And, you know, it's horrible.
And I know they tried to fix it once, but, you know, they just need to do more.
At the boat launch, the only other thing I could think of her to help is to get a turning lane in there.
And I'd be really curious to see what the new traffic parking layout that they instituted this year, if that's helped at all.
Because the parking right across from that intersection, they cut off.
Okay.
So you can only park on the shoulders and away from the boat ramp.
So it gives people more area to be able to turn instead of having.
trailers in their way. But the thing that I did notice is going northbound past the ramp.
They're now parking where there's guardrail, which for me is very scary because you only have,
what, eight feet there. And I can just see that causing problems because everybody wants to be
as close as possible to the ramp. They don't want to have to walk any farther than they have,
even though they're there for recreation and to get exercise. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I travel the roads, 114, 202, quite a bit, half a dozen times a week, doing deliveries.
And what I can see is the amount of people that have moved to our state in the past three to five years,
the roadways are incredibly congested.
You guys put a roundabout out here on 202.
It's made the traffic ten times.
worse between Hillsborough and Hennecker. It's just bumper to bumper. And if you try going 55
miles an hour, you've got people passing you on the right, double solids. I mean, it's nuts.
Broadreach, you know, to the max. The towns need more police patrols, you know, which unfortunately
they can't spend all their time on the highway, but it's just the roundabouts aren't working.
And I would hate to be on a bicycle on the side of half of these roads being.
You're taking your life in your hands.
But maybe just wider, widen things out in certain places.
Going from Bradford to Warner, that's an obstacle course in the wintertime, especially when the roads are slippery.
From Bradford to Henneker, the boat, airs of the road.
yes, that's dangerous because people park right next to the highway.
So you've got nowhere to go in case of an emergency.
So, I don't know, that's my two cents.
Thank you.
Keith Damora.
I want to thank you guys for giving us the opportunity to come in and talk to you at the beginning of the stage.
I appreciate that.
The question I have is, on some of those maps, it says
right away varies from 25 feet to 100 feet.
I guess I'll go direct to the boat landing on 114.
If the state owns X amount of land, say 100 feet, can we encroaching on the people's land,
even though it's a state's land and create a parking area?
I didn't know the reason why it varies from 25 to 100 feet.
Yeah, the reason why it varies is because when we put the cross-sections together,
we're looking at like a longer stretch of the road than what we're showing here.
So I'd have to look at specifically what it is right at the boat launch, which I can't remember
off the top of my head.
So the right away kind of does this hourglass figure up the road?
Yeah, it's probably more like, you know, maybe it's 25 feet for a while, and then it kind of expands
out 100 feet for a while.
Okay.
It most likely doesn't go in and out a ton, but.
Well, I guess if that would be my own potential solution, if the state of my own potential solution,
if the state-owned a larger portion at the boat area where the boat trail is parked,
if we could create something there to get it safer.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Can I ask a quick question, Michael F?
In one of your slides, it said something about the 103-114 intersection.
Now, I'll go too far.
Oh, sorry.
One more.
One more.
That one.
Potential for traffic calming.
What is that?
So traffic coming would just be looking at different ways to slow traffic down through the intersection.
So whether it's changing like the light signals or changing the entire intersection, right?
Yeah.
I was just curious.
Thank you.
Yep.
Anybody else have any comments and concerns or questions for Bradford or Warner?
It just came to mind to keep on the recreational and just also to bring back the fact that we had a pretty serious snow machine accident in Bradford right by the bus company.
So in addition to traffic, in addition to residents, there's a lot of recreational trails
that do cross many of that corridor up and down from Hennecker all the way up through, you know,
Sutton, Snow Machine Traffic, ATV traffic.
So it's also some consideration to take into effect multi-recreational.
So that happened to be, that snow machine accident, it happened to be in a kind of a high-speed,
area where the machine crossed the road.
So there is additional uses out there besides commercial and regular civilian traffic.
Thank you.
And so next up we have Hennecker.
So these are the locations that we're looking at in Henneker.
And again, please comment on anywhere throughout Henneker that you have concerns.
So first up, we have the intersection with Route 202.
Let's see.
So this is looking north towards Route 202.
We've got travel lanes and then the right-hand slip lane onto 202 east and the grass median.
And this is our typical section for this one, 12-foot northbound and southbound travel lanes.
We're also showing the 202 eastbound on-ramp here, which is 10 feet.
It's a little bit difficult to show in this section.
And then the shoulder on the right side varies two to eight feet.
And left side, we've got an eight-foot shoulder.
And the median varies from 2 to 14 feet.
And again, this kind of, it varies so much because we're going, like, the dimensions are represented
of the full intersection through 202, so not just the photo that I showed.
Next we have Maple Street north of the Kuntook River.
So this is kind of a more residential stretch in between Route 202 and Main Street.
So we've got the two travel lanes, shoulders, and then we do have a sidewalk on the left
hand side. In this our typical section for this one, 12-foot travel lanes, two-foot shoulder
on the right side, and a three-foot shoulder on the left. And then we have the five-foot
sidewalk on the left-hand side, which is kind of grade separated a little bit. And see it's higher
than the roadway here. And next we have the intersection with Main Street and Western Ave and
Haneker. So we've got, so this is looking northbound approaching Main Street and Western Ave,
Main Street over to the right and Western Ave to the left. This is kind of more of a down
town area. So there are more walkable destinations here, restaurants, the pharmacy,
the library, and the New England College is just to the south. And then there's a little break in
the sidewalk network here on the left-hand side of the photo where the driveway and the parking area for
that pharmacy is. And I know there have been some concerns with pedestrian safety at this intersection,
so that's something that we're looking at. This is our section here. So we've got a 12-foot southbound
traveling and eight-foot shoulder and the five-foot sidewalk.
On that side, again, there was kind of a break in the sidewalk network in the photo. So that's why
we didn't see a sidewalk there. On the right-hand side, we've got the 12-foot northbound travel lane
and a 12-foot on-ramp or slip lane, turning lane for, I should say, Main Street. And then we do
a street parking here, too, and I think, believe people are parking on the shoulder on the
southbound side as well. And then this just kind of, I feel like, highlights how open it looks on the
right-hand side. There's not really any lane.
markings, but there's kind of three different uses there. And going a little bit further south,
this is the northern end of New England College. You're looking north towards the intersection we
were just at, the dining hall is on the left here, and then there's one of the academic buildings on the
right. So we've got two travel lanes here, shoulders, and we have a sidewalk on the left-hand side,
and then you can kind of see the crosswalk up ahead, and the sidewalk on the right-hand side starts
right at that crosswalk. And we definitely saw a lot of pedestrian. And we definitely saw a lot of pedestrian
traffic in this area when we were out doing our site visit last year. And then this is the
typical section for this one. So we've got 12-foot travel lanes on both sides, five-foot sidewalk
on the left-hand side, three-foot shoulders on both sides, and then the sidewalk on the right that
starts just after that crosswalk. And then this is just a block or two south, again, still at New
England College, just a little bit of a different cross-section here, where we don't have the sidewalk
on the left-hand side. There is like a gravel area.
area for them to walk, but it's at street level, so not necessarily as safe as a separated
sidewalk. And that's the library right there on the left and an art building on the right. And there
is, you can see in the typical section, there is kind of a sidewalk in front of the art building,
but it's hard to show through this program how it actually functions. It's kind of more like it curves
right in front of the building, and then there's a stairway. And so the sidewalk kind of stops at the
stairway, and then it starts again in front of the other two buildings.
So not necessarily usable for everyone. And again, the sidewalk on the left-hand side
is at street level, it's gravel, but we did see quite a few pedestrians utilizing that
when we were out there. And next we've got Flanders Road and Elm Street. So this is the route
to Pat's Peak ski area. This one is looking south, and that's Flanders Road and Pat's Peak
Peak over to the right. So you can see on this one, again, 12-foot traveling.
the shoulder varies between one feet and 10 feet. And again, that's because we are looking at a longer
stretch here. So you can see over here, the shoulder width on the right-hand side. It's probably
closer to the 10 feet, maybe more like six or seven. The shoulder on the left-hand side is probably
closer to two or three feet. All right, and here's the crash data for Henneker.
Kind of lower than some of the other towns, but still spread throughout the corridor a little bit.
And again, just because this doesn't show as many crashes as the other towns, it doesn't mean
we're not going to consider safety and look at potential crashes in this area.
And one thing I forgot to mention, I think, at the beginning.
So the crash out we have is from 2017 to 2023.
And then the pavement conditions for Henneker, mostly good except for that stretch around New England
College and the Main Street intersection, which is in poor condition.
And then some challenges and considerations that we've noticed in Hennecker, pedestrian facilities.
There are some gaps in the sidewalk networks.
There are safety concerns at some of the crossings, a lack of bike accommodations.
The intersection with Main Street and Western Avenue, 114, there have been safety concerns there,
especially related to pedestrian crossings.
And again, there's the potential for historic districts and buildings and landmarks here.
So, does anybody have any comments, questions, concerns?
they want to share for Henneker.
Good evening.
I'm Richard Dreher, live in Henneker.
I have a couple of general comments.
The section from New London down to 103 on 114, I do not drive that road unless I absolutely have to,
because there's very narrow shoulders, in my opinion, it's very dangerous.
Secondly, from 1.0, I don't know if it's Henneker or Bradford, but the second,
southbound side of 114, the pavement's coming up in a long stretch that wasn't, it was paved
not too long ago, and it's coming apart, and I think it needs some attention.
The biggest concern we have is we live, I live right on 114, in the 30-mile-per-hour zone.
The traffic does not go 30 miles an hour there.
I believe you need more signage on both sides of the street.
I believe you need much more police patrol in that section.
I mean, I think that Henneker could eliminate any tax raises if they just had an officer stationed on both sides of 114 and wrote tickets all day long.
And they would write tickets all day long.
Every log truck that goes by my house is not going 30 miles an hour.
Many times the people on 114 headed towards 202, they're accelerating.
all the way from the center of town, all the way up that hill.
They're probably going 50 by the time they get to 202.
So that, to me, is the number one issue with 114 is the speed in the village of Henneker.
Thank you.
Jerry Gilbert.
On your slide for the bridge, if you could get back to the over-202, the overpass.
This one?
There you go.
There is a large amount of people that walk Davison Road, which is above the mobile that you can't quite see there, down Liberty, back Western Ave, back up 114.
The sidewalk ends at post office place.
There's no sidewalk on the right near Country Spirit, on the left near the post office.
Then you have sidewalks on the bridge.
Then again, no sidewalks.
There needs to be a sidewalk at least to Davison Road on the west side and a sidewalk on the east side, at least to the harvester driveway or just beyond it to the Dollar General.
A lot of the students walk this and walk to Dollar General to do some grocery shopping.
It's been a problem since the day they put the...
that in and put the bypass through.
It needs to be addressed.
Down 114.
We're doing this, I have the chairman for the Coswell Spring Water Works.
We're doing pot-holing, what's called potholing.
We're looking for lead goosenecks.
We've got a grant from the government to do this, as everybody's trying to do.
We just hit a section of 114.
just by the academy, what's called the old academy.
The asphalt was 21 inches thick.
We had to bring in a bigger machine just to get through the asphalt, just a heads up.
This is what you're going to be finding.
And then you get further north, and you get the asphalt that's just peeling up as we were just told.
So there's a lot of asphalt issues down through along.
They tried to fix the drainage some years ago.
I'm going to go back a little bit further.
you had mentioned Gile Pond Road.
I'm just real curious.
Do you do any kind of, is there any kind of traffic study on 114 and Gile Pond Road?
And I don't know what the name of the road is.
It goes in front of the firehouse in Sutton to determine how much traffic you're losing at Gile Pond or gaining.
And the same with the truck traffic that is supposed to go around Gile Pond Road.
and come up across by the firehouse.
That is also, you keep mentioning the high school and the middle school that are there.
The real problem is exit 10.
And I will tell you, I use it all the time because it's faster.
I'll take my camper up there and it's safer than going to 202.
So there's a lot of traffic that are using Gile Pond.
That's just in reference.
Back down to Pat's Peak.
that intersection, they're now building, I believe it's an apartment building, duplex, right on the corner,
which is going to make that intersection a lot worse.
That road should have turn lanes, both directions, and slow traffic down.
One other thing, the sidewalk you were mentioning, that's elevated in front of New England College
on the east side by the library.
Yep.
That is New England College's sidewalk that's private.
Okay.
They built that.
It's got nothing to do with you guys.
Yep.
Officer Rachel at Combe with Hanneker Police Department, I would concur with the sidewalks going up through that intersection all the way up.
We do have pedestrian traffic.
Oh, yep.
Okay.
So I would also agree with the sidewalks.
As the police department, we would recommend sidewalks up to the businesses, up to Davidson Road.
We do have college students along with, uh,
the public that walk up through that intersection, but also extending sidewalks down pass
through the college.
We do have a college population that stays out very late.
Poor lighting through that college section is a concern for our pedestrians,
along with the speed on Bridge Street and Maple Street.
We would recommend it going down to 25.
We know that there's road rage and other things, but with speed dropping, hopefully it could get
our residents to slow the rest of the traffic down.
We could get out there and enforce it.
it as well.
I'm trying to think.
And the accident data.
Thank you.
I was like, I knew there was something else.
In regards to the accident data, I will say in the last three weeks, I've responded to a major
accident at that intersection exactly.
And then the four-way at 114 at the pharmacy, I've probably had at least three major accidents
just this year alone.
So the accidents are.
occurring, it looks a little more frequently than the data does show that four-way
intersection, along with this intersection, are two major accident issues that the PD is seeing.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, Michelle Mc Murphy.
I'm glad you pointed out the pedestrian traffic at the four corners, the Main Street, Western Ave at 114.
I walk that every day, that school is in session.
There are many times that I stand and wait and wait for traffic to notice that I would like to cross.
Other times, one lane will stop for me.
I walk halfway out, and I still have to watch because I'm not guaranteed that the oncoming traffic
would actually see me.
So I wish there was more of a way to alert drivers that there are people in that crosswalk at that time.
I know there is a way.
a crosswalk light system by the post office.
The pedestrian pushes the button, the light splash, and traffic knows that there's
someone waiting.
That's one thing that I would like to see happen in that area.
And thank you for being here.
Thank you.
Hi, my name's Mark McMurphy.
I'm Michelle's husband.
And we live in the Metro Henneker area right over there.
And so we're constantly walking downtown.
And I agree.
with Michelle on the flashing light, that would catch people's attention.
But what I notice a lot at that same intersection is people are confused.
Drivers are confused at that intersection.
I see it a lot where a driver heading south, for example, doesn't know if they have a stop sign or what the story is.
It's a lot of times somebody from out of state or maybe not local.
So that's just something to consider.
Another thing is the at night, especially if it's raining.
It's very hard to see if you're a driver, especially as you go across the Stone Arch Bridge.
There's another crosswalk there for NEC.
And I know that our town is looking at our street lights and we have nice lamps if there's anything a part of your
plan or funding, we maybe can update those lights so they're a little bit brighter.
The next thing that I want to point out is across from where Flanders Road comes out just after
the college and Ramsdale Road where those meet.
There are a lot of people, I'm not exactly sure how much time they're saving.
Probably not a lot, but they'll choose to cut the downtown off and go that way and then go
up Flanders Road to Pat's Peak.
So that becomes an intersection that might be something to think about.
And then finally, so many of us are friends because of the transfer station.
We all see each other there on Saturdays.
But that particular intersection, or it's not really an intersection, but where you turn off to go to the transfer station, can get backed up and people start passing.
And so that could be dangerous.
And lastly, the.
Traffic accident data, that is an accident that has occurred.
I wish there was a close call monitor because that would be going off like crazy downtown at that intersection.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, folks.
My name is Grace Cohen.
I am a longtime Henneaker resident, not a New Hampshire native, but I've been here since 1969.
And I have seen many, many changes to Route 114.
over the years. Most of them have been really good.
I've also seen the growth of the traffic in our town and in our state, and everybody knows that.
That's nothing new at this point.
However, I think one of the biggest issues that our whole town has to deal with in frustration
is speed and distracted drivers.
And it's a lot of the biggest issues.
especially difficult when you look and you're showing us these nice pictures, but you're
missing the big picture here in our town.
From when you first hit the 35 mile an hour speed sign coming into Henneker from Bradford,
the first thing you come to is a dollar general store.
Then the Henneker feeds in needs.
Then harvest or grocery store and the farm stand and Bacon Road, which is going to be
the location of our new police station.
Then we have the mobile gas station.
We have off-road highway vehicles crossing the road there.
I don't know if it's legal or not.
I'm not sure.
We have the entrance of Henneker Crush Stone and Patnaud Lumber Company.
They, I'm not sure who did what, but there is now a second entrance for those businesses.
And many residents, including myself, I gratefully used that cut-through.
from Rush Road as a shortcut so we don't have to go all the way into town.
Then we have the crossings for Route 2029 on the north side of the bridge
and then the intersections again on the south side of the bridge.
And all of this is in close proximity, but wait, I'm not done.
We then have the post office and the new dental office at Post Office.
at Post Office Place.
We have the shopping center, which is a country spirit restaurant, Edmunds,
hardware store, the veterinary center, and the bank.
Then we have a crumbling, overgrown sidewalk that takes us a short walk down to the fire station
and police station, a fire station and rescue squad.
And that's all in less than a mile.
And we have local folks, but we also have people who are only coming through once.
They are totally unfamiliar with the area, and there are all sorts of issues.
I am a pedestrian and a driver, and I see every time I'm out near misses.
And I'm not exaggerating here.
And there's another issue at the intersection of post office place and the Route 114 here.
And I'm going to show you on your map.
Because as you are driving in the dark, northbound on 114, and you want to turn into the post office place to maybe drop the letter off in the mailbox,
it's pitch black right there.
But right above it, there are lights, high with people coming at you,
and there is the light that the state put up for Route 114,
and I think they assumed that putting it in front of the post office was a good idea.
But that's not where the intersection is.
But can we back off to the previous slide.
Oh, yes.
Sorry.
So the post office is right up here in the middle of all these trees that were not here when that was small.
So in any time when there are leaves out, you have no light whatsoever,
and it's a little bit over then.
And there is, and it's more about even when you're leaving you off, because then you have a white light up above where the dark
I have a hard time finding the intersection when I'm trying to turn into the post
office at night. Am I the only one or maybe somebody else? Thank you. So those are some of the
issues just in that very short section. And I really encourage all of you before you make any
recommendations or any design drawings to really take a drive through their very
very slowly, if you can, because somebody's going to come right up behind you going fast.
But take a look at how many entrances and exits there are for traffic in that short stretch of area.
I sometimes have to wait to make a turn onto 214 minutes. And I've actually timed over five
minutes waiting. And I've even turned right and gone north and then turned into the dollar store.
so I could come south into town. So that's a big traffic issue with a whole lot of congestion.
Downtown, our police officer was being kind. I mean, I have an office in the center of town,
and I overlook the intersection of Main Street and 114. And there isn't a time when I'm in my office that I don't at least hear a close call, skids or whatever.
If I look out my window, almost nobody comes to a full and complete stop at the intersection going east or west.
Now, when I learned to drive and got my New Hampshire license, in the drivers, in the laws, it said the driver must come to a full and complete stop at a stop sign.
Maybe that's been struck from the manual. I don't know.
But when I'm coming south into town,
From Maple Street, coming down 114, I come into that intersection at between 10 and 15 miles an hour.
Because invariably, somebody is going to be making a wide turn into my southbound lane.
So please also sit there and look at that intersection.
Have some people video it or whatever you want to do, but spend some time investigating what's going on there.
marked. There are the stop signs. People are not stopping and there's so many accidents
and there's a lot of little fender benders that probably aren't even getting reported, but it is a big
deal. And then our crosswalks. Thank you for the one that finally got up at the post office.
We need more of those. The very next sidewalk down the road from there is where, or the crosswalk is where the
sidewalk comes north on 114 on the left-hand side of the road, on the west side.
And then, for no apparent reason, other than there's no room to continue it, it crosses over.
But there are big trees and other driveways and things coming in and out there.
It's hard for the pedestrians to look both ways if they're on the east side trying to cross.
And if you are a driveway.
driver, you often do not see the pedestrians trying to cross. And if you do, you may have
little time to stop for somebody who is legally in the crosswalk, and you're supposed to stop.
So there's another place. Please take a look at that. Sit there and watch for a little while,
or try to cross yourself a few times. It's really, somebody's going to get killed there.
So the same thing with the crosswalks at New England College. When you just crosswalks
bridge there's a little bit of a curve locally we know it's there we know
students maybe you know with a headphones on and looking at their phones walking
out into the street but people who aren't from our town aren't aware of this and
again there have been some incidents there and somebody's going to get killed they
need probably knowing the students they need the ones that are triggered by
movement not where they stop and push the button for safety but
Please, please, take a look at those crosswalks all through the college and downtown and coming up Maple Street, 114.
And finally, the transfer station and River Road, thank you for bringing that up.
They're very close together. That's a 55-mile-an-hour zone. River Road comes up very quickly.
If you don't know it's there, you're going to go right by it or just about go by it and stomp on your brakes to make the turn.
And because the transfer station is on a curve, again, you know, if you have a load of junk in your truck or your car or whatever,
and you're coming up and you've got your blinker on if somebody isn't paying attention going 55 or more like 60 or 65 miles an hour,
there's going to be another problem there.
So thank you for listening.
Please, I'm happy to give you my list if you want, but thank you for listening.
And please, please, please spend some time here.
and take a look before you just go on the pictures.
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Ron Hess.
I live at Prospect in 114 downtown, and I have to agree with everybody.
I promise not to talk too long myself, but I've got my list.
But where I live, they have a double crosswalk sign,
and I can't tell you how many times a day.
especially during the school time, that nobody stops there.
We've had two deaths, and I kind of disagree with your data.
Since I've lived there, I've had two deaths in front of my house, one with a motorcycle, one with two cars head on in my driveway.
In wintertime, our traffic gets on the weekends and the nighttime because of the skiing at Pat's Peak.
We have increased traffic through downtown.
We've got the visitors coming in.
They're not aware of all these things that the people talk about,
but they're looking at, you know, I'm the bad guy with all the Christmas lights on the town at Christmas time.
They're going to look at my lights, and they're not seeing that on prospect, that's a main avenue down to Rush Road where people live down there.
And so we've got people waiting to turn there, and they get rid of.
ended. Most of them are not serious, but we have had a Jeep that got T-boned, and luckily, there was no death in that one.
But we have a problem with the speed on 114. There's no doubt. The motorcyclist was in excess of 70 miles an hour in front of our house.
And I can't explain. We have kids that we have to stop the traffic because they won't stop for them.
I'll just kind of leave it at that because everybody else has got the same complaint.
But 114 is very, very dangerous.
And we're going to lose kids when we got semis coming down 114 doing 50 plus.
I've followed them in my car, and I had to do 50 to get behind them.
And they did not slow down, one iota going down.
So, excuse me, I'm losing my voice here.
But the traffic is too heavy.
for 114 through with the semis, the logging trucks. I've had the logging trucks take out the
stop sign at Prospect and 114 three times. I've had to crosswalk taken out a couple
of times. I've had cars that ended up in my yard because they had to slam on the brakes and
they came into the yard. That's not 30 miles an hour through that place. So I really recommend
you guys do a traffic check going to the yard.
down. Our police are tied to enforce the speed all the time. Matter of fact,
my wife and I, we chuck off on weekends how many times they stop a driver with the lights and,
you know, and it works, but they can't be there 24-7. But the trucks and the trailers are. You've got
big loading equipment the other day came through, Hinnaker. And even the load, the load,
was about two feet off of the trailer on both sides, and they were not going 30 miles an hour,
up 114. So I'll just leave it with that. My main concern is that we're going to lose children on that road
one of these days. Thank you. Thank you.
Good evening. Chris Vitello. I'm a resident of Henneker. My property is located on the southbound side
of 114, going towards the center of Henneker. And I'm going to take it all the way back.
to Bradford, where our friend, the fire chief of the Bradford Fire Department, was talking about
safety. And I believe that if you were to just do a quick root cause analysis here of kind of what
everyone is collectively saying, safety is the utmost concern. And I believe that the problem
with these safety concerns start from all the way up that road. And it is a systemic issue that
continues to gain momentum, pun intended, as it reaches through and enters through our little
village. And it is 100% consistent. Every single resident from every town that is represented here
tonight, I can honestly say being a resident on that road, witnessing so many things, it is 100% factual.
I have a question. Your traffic study for Henneker, where you gathered all your data, what time of year was
that done? Was that performed? I know you said you have your crash data from one year,
from 17 to 23, I believe.
2017 to 2023. And then your studies on congestion and utilization of the road and all of that,
when was that? What time of the year was that done? We haven't done like studies or counts on that.
It's possible that we will do counts at intersections as part of this project. That hasn't been decided
where yet.
Okay. So if I could suggest that you conduct these studies during the school year, okay, obviously.
Like Michelle McMurphy was saying, she crosses that street every day. I myself cross that street every day.
One of my clients, Jason Schrock, who is a member of the school board for Hendonker Community School,
we all say the same thing when it comes to indication of pedestrian traffic in the center of town.
Flashing light system, speaking of which.
we had a flashing light system up on top of 114 by the post office. It was decommissioned when
the new dentist office went in. I'm not going to, I'm not here to argue how that was decommissioned,
why, who's responsible when it's going back up, but I hope to see it recommissioned again soon.
There's no reason why it needs to be down this long. So, but that's for another meeting, perhaps.
But what I do have to say is the congestion, the traffic, the commercial traffic through Henneker.
been Hennecker residents for seven years. But I have to say that in those seven years,
the commercial traffic through Henneker has grown exponentially. Jake breaks at 3 a.m. in the
morning. From the grain store, from Dollar General, they are not going 35 miles an hour as it is
posted. And from that side of the road, you may not think the grade is that steep, but I'll tell you
what? Coming down with a full load with a semi, you'll pick up speed very quickly.
Going up, chatting with one of the police officers a few months ago, he said he actually clocked
someone and gave them a ticket and actually revoked their license. They clocked this person
going 92 miles an hour on 114. In front of my house, 92 miles an hour. Now, our fine policemen are
doing a great job with the resources that they have, but we are a small village.
And we plead with this panel and the state to give us additional resources to protect our town, regulate traffic.
I'm very happy that we have a corridor such as 114 that brings economic stimulus to our town.
Okay, we can't dispute that, we can't dismiss that. That is part of the facts. That is a factor in this equation.
But that does not dismiss the fact that further analysis is needed to regulate and to try to
to mitigate some of these very valid concerns. And I just want to tell you, I appreciate
you guys giving us the opportunity creating this forum to do such because I tell you what,
we've been waiting for something like this for a long time. And I really hope that our concerns are
heard tonight. They're taken into consideration. And valid studies with proper root cause analysis
and viable solutions are actually generated. Like someone said,
earlier about paving. The same thing happens over and over. It's a patch job, a patch job,
Band-Aid, Band-Aid, Band-Aid. A few years ago, 114, from just about the front, the center of town going
north, both northbound and southbound lanes were repaved, going all the way up in front of my home,
all the way up to the 202 overpass. Once that was done, of course, all of us to drive 114 noticed
that, of course, you know, the manhole covers and the grates are, of course, different levels and all
of that. And we deal with that.
But one of the more major concerns is that the grade of the road now is significantly higher
than that of the grade of the berm. Now, the berm, which is on my side of the road, is lower in some
areas by a foot. I measured it because in the wintertime and during heavy storm seasons,
the amount of erosion that runs from the top of 114 by the post office, it continues to flow down
in front of my home and go all the way down to the center of town.
And when debris from fallen leaves, hard pack that has been eroded by all this rushing water
fills our drains, guess what happens to the water? It enters the road, right? It causes
ponding, pooling. It's very difficult to navigate all of that. So again, I was very thankful
to see my tax dollars at work getting that road paved. Very, very nice and smooth.
But consideration was not taken into what was happening on the literal edges of that road and how
that new paving affected water flow and movement. So in conclusion, thank you again, and
appreciate your time. And one last thing, I do want to say that having witnessed quite a few
accidents on this road, I do want to say, and I'm not saying this as a dig, but your crash data
is outdated. It is insufficient. And a new study needs to be done. Thank you. Thank you.
So he just stole my thunder because if you're using the 2017 to 23, what happened during that time, COVID, right?
Yep.
So there wasn't a lot of traffic as much as it is today. So I've been Fire Chief up there since 22, and I can tell you the increase in traffic and increase of motor vehicle crashes is pretty significant since 22.
So I think if you base your plan on pretty much outdated data,
matter, it's not going to justify some of the improvements that maybe some of the folks here are
talking about. If we can cycle back to that wonderful 114-202 intersection?
Yep. I was surprised somebody didn't mention this. So when you come off westbound on 202 and 9 to
114, you pull up to the stop sign. If you want to go right towards Bradford, you can't see
south on 114 due to some sort of structure that's in the way.
is some sort of board. I don't know if it's the meters for your street lighting.
No. It's for a heating tape.
So it kind of obstructs your visual for it, so you end up hedging out into the road a little bit further.
And then if there's cars that are going south and you're going north, you're trying to hedge out a little bit further.
So it kind of makes it interest in there a little bit.
So if you're going to look at maybe what's going on within your right-of-way, maybe restriction.
on certain items that are in your right-of-way for visibility at major intersections.
And then I just wanted to jump back on.
You know, a lot of the pictures that you showed in the compact area of Henneker, you know,
it's a lot of residents, you know, so they have not as much vegetation as much as the rural roads do.
So there's not, it hasn't been a lot of vegetation management going northbound from Henneker
all the way up through.
So there's excessive trees.
look at the size of them that are incorporated into your guardrail.
A couple more years, you're probably going to be able to harvest lumber out of them.
And that branches are sticking out.
You know, 103 coming from 89 over to 114 is just as bad.
You hit all that bamboo as you go by.
So I think vegetation management gives you sight distance coming out of driveways,
coming out of roadways, and everything else.
So I think a little bit of vegetation management.
And the last thing I want to mention,
is once you go further north, speaking for Bradford, speaking for Sutton,
we're a lot of rural residential communities.
So you're looking at call of volunteer departments who are the responders to these motor vehicle crashes.
So we don't have full-time staff to enter there.
So there's volunteers who come back, who spend time to respond out to them.
Sometimes there's a duration to get to some of these.
Like I said, we cover.
All the way down, we jokingly call basically from Hennecker all the way up to Bradford,
the Brad Warnaker, because it's Bradford-Warner-Heniker,
and it's kind of in the midst of Henneker and Bradford covering most of that area all the way up to the Sutton Line.
Thank you.
Hi, Jennifer McCord again.
The northern area where we're losing the pavement, that has been a problem forever because it doesn't get any sun during the winter.
it's icy, even with the good drainage that is there.
Plus, you do have Amy Brooke that goes down through there that adds to the moisture to create the ice.
So that is a really big concern.
I realize it's COVID data, but if you look at the accident data for Sutton, Bradford, and Hennacher,
and then you look at the police force, Sutton has three-fold time, Bradford has four,
Henneker has up to nine with the chief, which that includes the chief in both of those other towns.
Right now, we have eight.
You know, the incident data looks less here, but I agree with everybody what they've said.
I, the amount of truck traffic that comes out off of 202 and 9 that goes down into where is crazy.
And for me, that's the biggest concern.
I know we can't stop it.
It's economics, and that's the way they have to go.
But trying to figure out traffic calming ways to get them to slow down and respect our town is something that we really need to look into.
I know that there was a big push to stop traffic from going through River Road to Pat's Peak.
So now a lot of it comes up through town, whether it goes Ramsdale Road or 114.
So that's added to the traffic pressures also.
I know people say we should put more signs, but being a retired engineer after 42 years,
I can tell you that signs are just suggestions.
The only thing that I've ever seen do any good is the flashing crossing signs to tell people that, yes, there are people,
especially through Hennecker where you have places where people cross, like they said, down across from the cafeteria for NEC.
We all know it's there.
We all know to slow down there.
I get people on their horns telling me to go faster down through there.
And I'm like, no, because any minute there could be a kid.
I know NEC during their, when kids first come in, they tell them to be really careful.
and, you know, wear bright clothing if they're out at night, because people can't see because
there's not enough lighting through town.
If they're wearing dark clothing, forget it.
You, it's so hard to see them.
So there was something else.
Yeah, and I would just absolutely reinforce that there needs to be a traffic study.
I know you're talking about not doing it, but I think it's imperative.
So that you can get the empirical data to make informed, awesome decisions and choices instead of, you know, just listening to us because it's hard.
But if you have the empirical data, then you can make intelligent decisions and help us out throughout the entire corridor.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, folks.
Listening to everybody's comments made me realize that one of the big issues that we have
have here, besides people going too fast and things like that, is visibility.
The accidents that we have on all directions of people entering and exiting 2029 from 114,
many of those issues, I think, are visibility issues. And I know that many people just plain don't
stop, so that makes the visibility a bigger issue.
But I know that I have to pull way out beyond where the stop sign is so I can see around the
abutments of the bridge on the west side to see if any southbound traffic is coming before I
pull out and try to go north on 114.
And there was just a major accident.
Two cars were totaled from the southbound traffic is coming before I pull out and try to go north on 114.
cars were totaled from somebody coming from the east and getting off on 114,
and it was a terrible accident there.
The skin marks are still there.
But, yeah, that is a huge issue.
So when you're doing your design work, perhaps actually visit the area and see what kind of visibility issues exist currently
and maybe how some of them can be mitigated when you,
work your new designs. And I would also say that the flashing sidewalk sign is actually
back in existence. It just recently went up. And you folks did not take it down. It had nothing
to do with the dental office. It was a woman driving a light blue car who, I don't know how she
did it, because I came along just as she was opening her car door.
But she had gone off the road, totally missed the intersection for the post office, and gone straight.
She did a head on into that sidewalk sign.
So it's been down for, I want to say, two years, and maybe you folks were waiting to replace it until all the dental office
electric stuff got set up. I don't know. But thank you for setting it up. I just noticed it the
day and my sister was with me. I stopped the car and asked her to jump out and push the
button and see if it worked. And it works, so please use it. But please put more in. They are
going to save lives. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Sandy Murray. I live on 114 at the corner of
Prospect and 114. I've lived in that spot six years. I've gone out within two minutes. I've gone out within two
minutes of two accidents, both involving motorcycles. The first one, the motorcyclists,
was just making a left-hand turn onto 114, and the car just did not see the motorcyclist. He lived.
The second accident was the one described where he was going about 75 miles per hour. A poor
18-year-old was just, he stopped at the stop sign. He was going to go across.
cycle hit him. They both landed in my flower garden, too. The boy's going to have to live
with that death for the rest of his life. I walk across that crosswalk every, well, a couple
times, two to three times a week, going to Mahjong and events in town. No one ever stops. I have to sit
there to try and get somebody to stop so we can go across the street. It's terrible.
So I agree with the woman who was just before me. Can we have a flashing light there? That might help a little bit.
The other thing I noticed, people were talking about the school, but are you aware that the school is one block away from Main Street and 114?
I know there's some signs that can go up by school zones that if school is in session, you have to go 10 miles per hour.
less. So I'm not sure if that is a possibility. But it's just too fast through that
main intersection of town, and I will not drive through that intersection. If I'm at the
library, I'll turn around, I'll go back and come up and go through another section. It is so
dangerous. One of the problems in that intersection is that at the pharmacy, even though it has
signs. Don't park in front of here unless you're a normal size car or I'm not sure
what it says. But anyway, there's always trucks there. How are you supposed to see around a truck
and make a right-hand turn? You can't. So I don't know if there's any possibility of taking out. I'm sure
they wouldn't be happy if you took out the parking, but that makes it very dangerous. Third thing,
There was a little talk about the sidewalk. How can you have a sidewalk that's always on one side of the street?
And then all of a sudden, in the middle of the road, you just have to go across to the other side by the firehouse.
Why can't we have a sidewalk all the way up on the west and all the way down? That's very dangerous to try and cross in the middle.
And last but not least, is that
is there a reason why there can't be a light? I was told, oh, you have to have a certain number of deaths before you can have a light. Why can't we have a traffic light on 114 and Main Street? I know there's traffic lights when I go down 114 to go down to Manchester. There's a couple of them along there that would slow traffic down because if there's a light there, they'd have to be slower going through up to that light.
very much and I'm glad that you're at least looking into our street. Thank you.
Michael Fleechegan. I'm going to wear my bus hat first. I agree 100% that if you guys look into this
further, please do it during the school season. We have two buses that cross 114 and then we have two buses
that have to go north on 114 and that can be a nightmare. We have crosswalk guards that are
college students. And if they can't be there, our police will try and help, but otherwise, the kids have to fend for themselves. So if you include this in your study, can you look at different methods of crosswalk signs, whether it's what we have at post office place, or I think it's actually Durham at UNH. They have a wire that has the lights hanging, so it captures you to slow down. I don't know what's best. My personal hat, I have been
rear-ended twice at the dining hall heading north because of that curve, both at night.
And when I talked to NEC last year, they said on any given day, they could have 1,200 students on campus,
which just adds enormous foot traffic.
And the last thing I want to touch on is the Pat's Peak.
I've witnessed cars, commercial vehicles, spun out, trying to stop,
going down that little hill. Our highway department tries to keep up with it, but they can't
babysit it. So I actually like the idea of a turning lane because I feel like it would give more space
for people to react. And I just want to say thank you. I'm going home to go to go to bed to dispatch
buses tomorrow. So have good night. Thank you. Thank you. Keith, DeMorrow. I want to give kudos to the
Henker PD because they do patrol that area quite a bit. But if the state of New Hampshire
owns Route 114. We're only talking tonight from Henneker up to New London.
Is there any type of grant or we can request from the state police to actually patrol the state road
and maybe allow the Hanukkah Police to do other things, but also patrol.
Just a suggestion if the state police could actually increase the patrol on the state road.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Jerry Gilbert again.
What he was just saying about the
Pat's Peak intersection is part of your study is any of it looking at the crossroads
coming in at what's I guess you call it the legal incline before they get to the road
so where they're talking at the pancake house Pat's Peak entrance that Gulf Road is
quite steep coming down and I don't know that that meets the new regulations for
approach ramps if you will
Okay, yeah, we can look at things like that, yeah.
Yeah, that one comes to mind mostly.
They had a highway department took care of one of them in town,
Prospect Street, upper Prospect Street.
Not that long ago. That was a really steep incline to come on to 1-14,
and a lot of people would slide in.
That one's been relatively taken care of as best as you can with the driveways under there.
But that one, not only turn lanes on 114, but that may require
turn lane on Gulf Road also.
Okay.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Hi, I'm Craig Tufts.
I work at the Regional Planning Commission.
I'd love to chat with you guys after the fact.
I wasn't planning on speaking, but after hearing a lot of what everybody was saying,
I thought I wanted to just mention to everybody that the DOT has been installing always stops
in a lot of locations.
I know somebody said, why can't we put a traffic light?
And she said it doesn't meet the warrants or whatever.
And the state has been rethinking.
that, you know, as a safety intervention, it always stop might be considered.
So 114 Main Street, Western Ave, should we think about that?
I'm not sure what people in town would think about it.
I mean, it might slow people down. Do we want trucks stopping and going?
So I know Bill Lambert has a lot of experience with it at the safety section,
and you guys are nodding your head. You probably thought about this already.
But I just thought it was worth mentioning at the meeting.
That's all. Thank you.
Hi, Nancy DeMora.
I think our biggest issue is that when our roads were built here, we had very few residents probably in town,
and now we are exponentially larger.
So our buildings were built close to the roads and so forth.
So I don't know how to fix that.
Unfortunately, that's your problem.
But I want you to just think about when you're thinking about the NEC area, there are two crosswalks there.
One was in front of where you have the picture.
in front of Gilmore, but then there's another one on the other side of where the Simon Center
is. That crosswalk, as the kids come out of Union Street, drivers coming north on 114
absolutely cannot see a person in that road until they're in the road. And if you don't know
that there's a crosswalk there because you're not from here, you have no idea until you are on top of
them.
That is a huge concern for me.
I watch it all the time.
But I also want you to remember that with the NEC students, especially when they're in town,
their campus is all through the downtown.
It is not on one side and in the gated area like a lot of colleges are.
It is on both sides.
Their residences are on one side.
Their buildings are on another side.
It is through the entire town.
Their dorms are on this road right out here.
So they're not even on.
114, they're on Main Street. They're on Western Ave. And they're all walking through the town.
The town is their campus. So please keep that in mind. Thank you.
Oh.
Hello. Nathan Kelly here, resident of Henneker for five years now. Love this town.
Always boasting how it's the only Henneker in the world.
Now, as a motorcyclist, a biker, I prefer the term. I've been riding the roads.
of New Hampshire, my whole adult life.
I love 114.
I love the towns that goes through and stuff.
We need a traffic light in the center of town.
We need that.
I see people coming south, stopping, and knowing or not knowing or realizing they're supposed to be going straight,
you know, if they're going south and north.
There's only two stop signs, east and west.
But some of these people don't realize this.
Just keep going through at a safe speed.
Another thing I need to bring up, I would like to bring up,
is the crosswalk lighting in the center of town, down by the college,
and in between there.
I love the lamps.
They've got that nostalgia look.
They're not bright enough.
Not at all.
So maybe flashing lights like they were talking about further up here
and teach these students that they're there to learn to operate them,
because on a dark, rainy night, and not even speeding,
and they just got their heads on, the buds, and the hoods,
and they just crossed without, you know, it's common sense.
Everybody brought up a great point.
If people use their common, friggin' sense,
life would be a lot easier.
That's it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Neil Kirk from where.
All of the things that you've heard tonight are,
relatively local issues that need to be addressed.
But even if they were all addressed, there would still be a major problem.
This road can't handle the amount of traffic it has now, and it can't handle the amount of traffic
it will be in 10 years when it finally gets to be done.
One of the things that the state has done, which I thought was pretty good, was to expand
or put in a bypass from where 101 and 1114 meet in bed,
in Bedford.
Now, that bypass didn't finish the job, it ended in part of Goffstown.
But over the next 10, 20 years, you're going to see the amount of traffic on this road increase
incredibly.
And so a bypass all the way from Bedford to New London and even farther on needs to be in the 10-year
or 20-year plan.
A lot of the problems that are here today would be exacerbated if you do nothing and simply
correct them.
and yet the traffic increases.
So a bypass or some other way to get most of the north-south traffic that isn't local off these roads
would solve a lot of problems.
Of course, you're talking hundreds of millions of dollars,
but that's the ultimate solution that we're going to have to have.
We need north-south traffic roads on the western part of the state.
The other thing I'd like to suggest is that every time you do a road,
widening or you put in sidewalks or you do things like that.
You change the nature of New Hampshire.
It doesn't become quite as rural as it was.
The slower pace of life speeds up.
The beauty that we have in some of our twisted roads disappears when you straighten them out,
as you have done between the Ware-Heniker line and basically the town of Henniker.
Fortunately, you haven't yet done that between the Hennacher.
line and parts of where, the southern part you've already done that too.
So you need to take into consideration not only the traffic that's here now, the traffic that's
going to be in the future, but also the effect on travel, tourism, and what most of us like
to think of as the New Hampshire way of life.
What you folks do can ruin that or enhance it.
So please keep that in mind.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, Jennifer McCourt.
Just listening to what that last gentleman just
said about having a bypass, I don't know where you put a bypass, but I think the bigger
problem is just having more relief valves over to the highways because there's just such long
stretches, you know, before you can get to a road to get over to the highways. And I mean, we have
20219, but the next one's not to 101. The ones in between are just more small roads like these.
So it's like, oh, do I go on that small road or this small road?
Well, this one's shorter, so I'm going this way.
So I think that should be a consideration.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It has nothing to do with 114.
This roundabout on 202, who designed that?
I tell you what, as a biker, motorcyclist, coming west on 202,
and if I want to take old route 9 back into center of town,
I don't get nervous over much, but I tell you what, that coming around that, with traffic flowing all over, gets a guy a little shaky.
When I leave the morning or wherever I'm going, I want to get home the same way.
I wish they put a traffic light there instead of the roundabout.
My opinion, but that's it.
Thank you.
Anything online?
All right.
Just have a few more slides.
I should be quick.
All right.
So the next steps for our corridor study, we'll take all the info that we got here tonight at the previous meeting that we had for Bedford, Goffstown, and Ware, and that we get through the online survey, and any traffic studies or things like that that we end up doing.
And we'll use that to develop concepts and plans.
That will be late summer, early fall, 2026.
We'll hold another stakeholder meeting in late fall, 2026.
And then after that, we'll be back here to share the concepts that we come up with.
So it would be winter, 26, 27.
Then we'll revise those as needed, prepare a draft report late winter 27, hold another
stakeholder meeting in spring 27, and then prepare a final report, late spring 27.
So then we just have the contact info here and a link in QR code for the survey.
So if you have any additional comments or concerns you want to share or you think of anything later,
please feel free to use the link and fill out the survey and share anything else that you may have.
I just wanted to add, we'll keep the survey open and online through the end of the month, so through the end of August.
If you haven't had a chance to take that, please feel free.
I'm Richard Draher.
We met at the Waterman, you worked on our house.
Yes.
I don't know how much.