Traffic still piles up on the outskirts of Keene.
And local debate still rages on the benefits of a proposed highway bypass.
The state Supreme Court last month sent back a lower court decision on the road.
But as the Keene Sentinel's Dan Gearino reports, the ruling has not put the bulldozers into action.
Four state highways meet on the outskirts of Keene.
They bring tens of thousands of vehicles every day to the city.
Often traffic sits bumper to bumper at stop lights.
For more than three decades, the state government has tried to expand the highways to ease the bottlenecks.
The plan is called the Keene-Swanzey bypass.
These days there�s something new on this road.
The first phase of a massive new retail development anchored by Home Depot.
(end traffic sound)
The new development, here and elsewhere in the city, makes Keene Mayor Mike Blastos say that the bypass is long overdue.
Blastos 1: Well obviously as time goes by, the impact on our infrastructure is increasing all the time mainly because we�re becoming such a commercial mega, mega attraction if you would. � We obviously are very disappointed that we haven�t seen the first shovel of earth tuned over yet.
Today the project is held up in court by a challenge from the Conservation Law Foundation.
The non-profit environmental group says the expansion may illegally harm wetlands.
A superior court judge agreed, and last year halted the project.
But last month, the state Supreme Court reversed aspects of the lower court ruling and sent the case back to superior court.
At first glance, this seemed to give the bypass the green light.
But there are several legal issues that still need to be sorted out over the next few months.
One of the leading opponents of the bypass is Annie Faulkner.
She lives in nearby Stoddard.
Faulkner is the past president of Concerned Cheshire Citizens.
The group is proposing a series of roundabouts instead of freeway-style interchanges.
Faulkner says the state�s plan is too big and costs too much.
Faulkner1: And we believe that a smaller design, for example a two lane roundabout would be more than sufficient to handle the traffic for 20 to 30 years from now. And, uh, that we could build it quickly and less expensively.
The current legal fight is just the most recent episode in a decades long argument over the bypass.
Patricia Russell is puzzled that the issue is taking so long to resolve.
Russell is a prominent local Democrat and was mayor of Keene from 1997 to 2000.
Russell5: We have been involved, the city has been involved for ten years with the planning. The state of NH has probably been involved quite a bit from about 1973 on.
Russell is not swayed by the wetlands concerns.
Russell4: Environmentally, I can�t see what we can do about the wetlands and so forth. Keene is built on water. It�s lake bed. We�re going to hit water wherever we go.
Debate over the bypass has made for odd bedfellows.
On both sides you�ll find Republicans, Democrats, business owners and Keene residents and some from surrounding towns.
Many opponents say they want to slow Keene�s growth.
Supporters argue that Keene must grow or it will stagnate.
And Some people must weigh competing interests.
Greg Farquhar of Keene drives a fuel oil truck.
For him, the bypass might make work a little easier.
But he opposes it.
He�s concerned it would bring too much growth to the city, raising taxes and harming his neighborhood.
Farquhar: Would it help us out as far as driving around delivering fuel oils and propane? I don�t know. We drive day and night here? We�re used to it. The holdups are the holdups. I think the whole issue is right there in that. When you have all of these traffic tie ups as we have right now, I think that says something about how compact we have become here in Keene.
The issue goes beyond Keene�s city limits.
To the south in Swanzey, drivers must pass through some of the region�s worst bottlenecks to go to jobs or shopping.
Swanzey selectman Bob Beauregard has pushed for the bypass for a decade.
Beauregard: This whole road network is extremely important to us. If you try to get out of our street, Greenwood Ave., for example to head to Keene to go to work or during the come-home-from-work time, you can just about forget it because traffic is so heavy.
Beauregard once joked that he hopes the bypass gets done before his funeral.
Otherwise, he fears that the funeral procession would get stuck in traffic.
Beauregard 2: I guess our perspective is just �Let�s get on with it.� It�s been studied to death; it�s been commented on to death; it�s been just talked about to death, really. It�s going to take a long time to accomplish and it�s needed badly.
People on both sides are reluctant to speculate on when the bypass will be completed.
The cost was estimated AT $60 million in 2001.
The delays will likely mean higher prices.
But There is no end in sight to the bypass debate.
The Supreme Court is now considering the Conservation Law Foundation�s motion to reconsider.
If the motion fails, the case will go to Superior Court � again.
For NHPR news, this is Dan Gearino in Keene.
