To kick off our new Ask The Monitor service – in which you, dear reader, ask us questions and we try to answer them – the management of the Concord Monitor has made an executive decision:
Start with an easy one!
Fortunately, among the half-dozen queries that have landed so far about topics like constitutional conventions and interstate highways, there is one that I can answer right off the bat to launch the series. Here it is:
“Do any of the street/road/highway departments have an easy way of reporting potholes and damaged pavements? Preferably a phone app that can be used while driving, like a large one-click button with geo-location. I always forget to report damage when I get home.”
The answer is yes for Concord, using an app called MyConcordNH. It’s not quite a one-click button but it’s close, and you shouldn’t be using an app while driving anyway, should you?
MyConcordNH lets phone users do a ton of things involving city government such as paying bills or getting emergency alerts. In terms of this question, you go to the “Report A Concern” section, where you can submit a photo and map location about issues like “vehicle parked more than 48 hours” as well as various road issues like damaged mailboxes, bad drainage and “dead animal in the road.” And, yes, potholes!
Several other cities in New Hampshire have similar systems, if not through apps then through the online SeeClickFix program. Concord has been part of SeeClickFix since 2021.
So far as I can tell, however, no other towns in our area are part of SeeClickFix or other online reporting systems, presumably due to budget and staffing issues. If I’m mistaken, please let me know! For those communities, your best bet is to call the highway department or road agent or see if they have an email address on the town website.
For potholes, drainage issues and the like on the 8,710 lane miles of state roads (not counting our interstate-ish turnpikes) you can call the Department of Transportation’s Maintenance District for that area. New Hampshire has six of those districts, and unfortunately Concord is split between two of them: Disrict 3 based in Gilford, (603) 524-6667, which includes towns to the north of the city, and District 5, based in Bedford, (603) 666-3336, which also covers towns to the south.
If you note an immediate concern on state roads, like a traffic signal being out, a stop sign fallen down or a road dangerously iced over, you can call the state’s Traffic Management Center at (603) 271-6862.
The MyConcordNH app is available for free in most app stores. Concord’s SeeClickFix is at concordnh.gov/seeclickfix.
Have a question for us? To submit to AskTheMonitor, see the form from the link at the top of ConcordMonitor.com.
