The city will hold two meetings next month to hear residents’ opinions on a proposed reconfiguration of traffic on Loudon Road.
Concord’s city councilors decided Monday it had been too long since they had invited the public to weigh in on the project – especially since its terms have changed.
To improve safety, the council decided in 2014 to trim four lanes of traffic down to three – with a center turning lane – between Hazen Drive and D’Amante Drive, but the federal funding awarded for the project temporarily dried up. By the time it was restored, disgruntled travelers of the corridor had made themselves known, prompting reconsideration.
Councilor Candace Bouchard said during that lag time she heard “loud and clear from many different constituents that just were not in support of this project,” worrying that it would intensify congestion and make a dangerous stretch of road worse.
That outcry led to the council’s January decision to revisit alternatives. Upon the city engineer’s report back Monday, the councilors learned that maintaining the status quo – or making slight improvements – means turning away more than $1.3 million in grants.
It’s a counterintuitive situation, in which the dramatic overhaul won’t require any new taxes to be raised, while a simple paving job proves relatively expensive.
The state Department of Transportation said resurfacing the road in its current configuration “will have no safety benefit” and therefore will not be eligible for Highway Safety Improvement Program grant funding, city engineer Ed Roberge said. Likewise, an alternative plan to close and shrink some curb cuts – addressing the unusual quantity of access points on Loudon Road – is only worth $120,000 in grant assistance.
Regardless of lane changes, the road needs paving. That alone will cost the taxpayers $1.1 million.
But in a package of safety improvements, including the three-lane design with a center lane for making left turns, the cost of paving is folded into a $1.4 million grant administered by the state DOT.
For the residents who objected to the proposed redesign, that raises the question: Are you willing to pay to maintain the status quo?
At a neighborhood outreach meeting on the Heights early next month, and a public hearing at the council’s next meeting, residents are asked to give their input.
“Now we’re back to that question: What do the citizens of Concord want?” Councilor Gail Matson asked in an interview. “Do they want basically a $1.5 million increase to their taxes to pave that road? Or do they want to try something that might work?”
Councilor Keith Nyhan said he’s been skeptical of engineers’ plans in the past, including a roundabout and the new Main Street design, only to learn they’ve “proven to work quite well.”
“And then we’re faced with this other concept,” he said of the three-lane Loudon Road design. “History being a good teacher says it’s probably going to work pretty well the way the engineers have designed it.”
Given the more than $1 million difference between the alternatives, Nyhan said he’s inclined to try the proposed design and repaint it to the old configuration if it doesn’t work out. City Manager Tom Aspell said in an interview that the city could potentially revert back to four lanes after accepting the grant money if it could prove the new design didn’t improve safety.
“I think really logically for me, the only option is to go with the three-lane design,” Nyhan said. “Take the quote ‘free money’ from the federal government, save our own taxpayer dollars.”
Roberge said he would prepare a 30-minute presentation that he’d bring to the Heights community center early next month, potentially Sept. 7.
Bouchard, who represents some of the residents of the Loudon Road corridor, said she thought it would be helpful to bring the neighborhood together for a conversation. She said residents told her they were anxious about cars going head-to-head in the center turning lane and that traffic already backs up at intersections with the additional lane. She also said some people worried drivers would use their neighborhoods as shortcuts to avoid Loudon Road.
“I think there’s a lot more education and explaining to do before we have a full council hearing,” she said.
The Heights meeting, which hasn’t officially been set, will be followed by a public hearing before the city council on Sept. 12.
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @NickBReid.)