Judith Kurtz lives in Concord.
Do you live or work in Concord? Do you drive, walk, bicycle, or use city buses to get around town? However you do it, you can’t navigate Concord without being intimately familiar with I-93.
The four-lane interstate highway bisects the city of Concord into east and west sides of town, each side containing state and city services, residential neighborhoods, schools, public parks, utilities, commerce and retail offerings (small businesses, chain stores). Concord residents on foot or bikes, driving cars and riding buses routinely interact with the highway corridor to move both east to west and north to south.
NH’s Department of Transportation (NHDOT) has determined that the section of I-93 that runs through our fair city is in need of major overhauls in the imminent future. We have a limited window to make our voices heard about an extensive I-93 expansion project that’s underway. The number of highway lanes (a proposed eight from the current four), the on and off ramps, the roadway crossings, interchanges, surrounding roadways, access to the river, walkability and bikeability are all topics being decided now.
The City Council will be hearing public comment on this issue on Monday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers on Green Street before moving forward with the state’s plan.
Attention to the highway and surrounding areas can mean some good things for Concord residents and visitors. In particular, the current proposed plans include safety improvements to red-listed bridges, reduced traffic merges and weaves, and improved traffic flow at Exit 12 with the installation of roundabouts. There are also proposed improvements related to the Merrimack River Greenway Trail, including an underpass of Loudon Road and/or connection from Loudon Road to a trail near the Storrs Street Extension.
We have a chance to ask the state to work with us in maximizing improvements around the highway corridor. One idea that’s been around since the 2005 Opportunity Corridor Master Plan, and has been supported by the Concord Greenspace Coalition, is for a deck park that would cover the highway, rail lines and the river, connecting the east and west sides of the city for pedestrians and cyclists.
There are hopes for the eventual presence of commuter rail and expansion of the trail system to connect within the city and to existing trails in neighboring towns. There’s also been much enthusiasm for beautification along Storrs Street, to draw I-93 through-drivers into the city to stop and spend their tourist dollars here in Concord on their way to points both north and south.
Whichever of these points speaks to you personally, one thing is universal — citizens have a limited window in which to make our voices heard. The City Council will be hearing public comment on Monday. Don’t wait until the project is underway to consider the impact it has on you. Come out now to advocate for a vision of Concord that you can be proud of.
After all, if we’re going to sit through years of construction and traffic interruptions, it will be a bit easier if we know we did what we could to make sure the end of the project will benefit and beautify our hometown.