State and local officials in Bow are hoping that clearer signs on Interstate 89 South will curb traffic accidents and driving mistakes in the area where a 20-year-old was killed in a car crash last year.
A road safety audit report conducted by the town and the Department of Transportation was released this week looking at the area of I-89 south Exit 1 and the I-93 south on-ramp.
The report highlights various safety issues and potential countermeasures, such as two larger signs on Exit 1 warning drivers of the stop sign at Logging Hill Road. The report also calls for a large, green sign overhanging I-89 with a diagram showing the three off-ramps for Exit 1, I-93 south and I-93 north.
“There’s a lot of collisions there and a lot of near-misses,” said Bow Town Manager David Stack.
In April 2018, 20-year-old Tyler Shaw was killed while driving on Logging Hill Road. As he passed the I-89 off-ramp across from Short Street, another car coming off I-89 ran the stop sign and collided with Shaw’s car. Shaw was killed instantly.
Prosecutors say the driver of the other car, Joseph Leonard Jr., 37, of Derry, was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs at the time of the crash. He faces three negligent homicide charges and one charge of DUI aggravated collision with serious injury. Jury selection is scheduled for Oct. 8.
Residents and town officials have long been concerned with this area of Bow Junction, where I-89 south ends and drivers can take Exit 1 to Logging Hill Road, or continue a little farther to the I-93 north and southbound off-ramps or all the way to the end at the Route 3A traffic light. The on-ramp from Logging Hill Road onto I-89 also deposits traffic into this area.
The four ramps are packed into a tight half-mile stretch that forces drivers to make quick movements with the steering wheel and gas pedal as cars whiz by going 50-plus mph. The posted speed in this area is 40 mph, and the ramp speed is 35 mph.
Those trying to reach I-93 north or Route 3A from the Logging Hill Road on-ramp tend to have the whitest knuckles.
“You take your life into your own hands,” Stack said of trying to merge onto I-89 while others weave through to get onto I-93 south.
Stack was among a group of town and DOT personnel to visit the area on a warm and sunny September day for a field review last fall. The audit report notes that during the visit, the group observed “several vehicles” mistakenly leave I-89 south at Exit 1 only to make a U-turn at the end of the off-ramp to return to the highway and continue onto the I-93 south on-ramp.
The audit team “generally agreed that the textual directions on the overhead guide signs could be misinterpreted by an unfamiliar driver,” the report reads. The report also notes that navigation systems, such as Google Maps, provide verbal navigation that could be confusing to drivers in this busy corridor.
Local police have been concerned about this area for years, but law enforcement on the interstates typically fall to state police.
Bow police Chief Margaret Lougee said DOT’s plan is “a great start.” She said she hopes the eventual redesign of Bow Junction will make safer pathways for drivers. The redesign is part of DOT’s I-93 widening plan through Concord. The plan is still in the designing stage and construction is not expected to begin for several years.
“This is about what we can do now in the short- and intermediate-term,” Lougee said of the new signs. “I think the long-term goal is the big (redesign).”
Michael Dugas, a DOT safety engineer who participated in the audit, told the Monitor on Friday that they are moving forward with the sign improvements, but it is not yet clear when they will be up. Work on the ground-mounted signs is likely to begin in the next few weeks. The overhead signs will take more time.
“DOT will manufacture and install the new overhead signs, but before that happens we need to have a structural analysis done of the supporting sign structure to ensure it can bear the load of the modified signs it will be carrying,” Dugas wrote in an email.
Read the full audit report below.
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3321, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)