At Last, A Roundabout- Maybe

By Donna Moxley on Tuesday, December 21, 2004.

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After years of debate over how to alleviate traffic congestion in Keene, it appears the sides have come to agreement.

The state has proposed upgrading the Keene bypass not with overpasses and exit ramps.

But with turn lanes and roundabouts.

And as the Keene Sentinel's Donna Moxley reports, drivers frustrated with clogged intersections may begin to see some relief next year.

Long traffic back-ups getting in and out of town on the Keene bypass have become a way of life here.

But it's not a way of life locals are willing to accept.

For years residents have been hoping the state would upgrade the road.

It is, after all, where several southwestern New Hampshire highways merge.

Five years ago the state proposed fixing the problem with a couple of big overpasses and sweeping exit and entrance ramps

But many in town didn't like that option.

And now after years of meetings, public hearings and even legal action, it looks like locals have gotten their way.

The state department of transportation has proposed adding turning lanes and roundabouts at the bypass's most congested intersections.

State officials are Calling these proposals "interim solutions," that might work for a decade.

Craig Green is with the State DOT.
Craig Green: 19:48 Normally we try to plan for 20 years but in this particular case, the timing, the funding, all resulted in taking a look at phasing this project in.
Local residents seem to like the idea of roundabouts.

At a public hearing last month, Most of the 200 people attending expressed their support for the plan.

And a day later, the city council voted in favor of a large roundabout at one of the worst intersections in town?.where Routes 101, 10, and Winchester Street meet.

Rhett Lamb is Keene's planning director:

47:48 they're used ALL over the place, if you go to Europe if you go to England, they're not used in every, and there are many of them out there and there's a lot of empirical data that show they can handle a huge amount of traffic very efficiently.
Lamb says Keene is already planning roundabouts for some of the busy intersections on local streets, including one in front of Keene State College on Main St.
But State officials won't commit to anything except to say that roundabouts are a possibility.?.and maybe as early as next year.

The DOT's Craig Green:
CRAIG GREEN 24:02 we know that the city prefers a roundabout, and right now we're trying to evaluate what size roundabout is appropriate for that location, keeping in mind that this is an interim improvement and we only have so much money that can be spent ... we want to make sure that whatever is proposed is going to work ... we want the interim improvement to function better than what you have out there today, and then obviously we want it to function for a number of years.
Meanwhile, Local officials are hoping the state gets started with its improvements.

A commercial development called Monadnock Marketplace is expanding near the intersection of route 101 and Winchester Street.

And the bypass serves as the major route into the shopping center.
For NHPR news, I'm Donna Moxley