Road Conditions

Due to family obligations the wife and I have been doing a lot of traveling lately and we've noticed a great deal of road work going on in different parts of the state. It appears that work has started on that spur I read about between the Everett Turnpike and Manchester airport. There is also a great deal of construction continuing on Rt. 93 in a couple of spots, it looks like they are widening it in the vicinity of Derry. It also looks like they are widening the Spaulding Turnpike in Rochester in the vicinity of exits 12 and 13 and that work has been going on for some time. I understand that the state is trying to promote Manchester Airport as an alternative to Logan and pull some travelers up from Massachusetts and easier access to the airport would be a plus.
In the meantime our roads up here in the Lakes Region are falling apart. I know the spur at Manchester Airport is being done with stimulus money and I don't know where that money could fit in as far as road maintenance goes, but it seems a little ironic to me that a new highway spur is being built in Manchester when we are driving around on test tracks for struts and shock absorbers here on the east side of the big lake. A few months back the DOT threw us a bone when they promised patchwork on rts. 28 and 109 but that was only after a meeting in Wolfeboro with DOT officials, town officials and Councilor Ray Burton to put some pressure on the state.
You would think our local state representatives would be doing a better job in bringing home the bacon, so to speak, and getting our roads fixed.

While I was reading your post for the first time I was formulating an answer to you in my head. As an old coot from this area, it occurred to me that I was going to have to explain to you how every few years the "Road Gods" will throw Wolfeboro area people a bone! As I read further down in your post, I saw those same words!
You catch on fast for a New Yorker, Poppatuf.
oc

Thanks oc, funny thing, I was talking to my son today and he lost a tire to a pothole in New Yawk. I guess I shouldn't complain.

xrayspx's picture

It appears that work has started on that spur I read about between the Everett Turnpike and Manchester airport.

My wife's office is literally inside the radius of that off ramp. It's not just going to be a convenience for people trying to get to the airport, it seems the state would like to use it as a wedge to try and make more toll money, works out like this:

what follows is largely conjecture

Currently there is a road that parallels "Everett Turnpike" south between Bedford and Nashua, "Old Rt. 3". So anyone with half a brain and an extra 3 or 4 minutes to sit at lights will avoid the toll and take this instead. With the new off-ramp, they're chopping this road off at the top end in Bedford, essentially forcing people onto the highway, and toward the toll booth.

Nifty. It also leaves my wife without an efficient way to get to work, since it actually takes longer to get to the highway and take it north from where we are than it does to take backroads. She also loses her favorite lunch restaurant.

People in Merrimack and Bedford must be livid over this if it plays out the way it looks from the construction site and maps. They're confusing though, so I guess there could be an underpass or something.

Thanks NH! I hope they at least jam a huge liquor store there.

xrayspx's picture

A huge Woo-Yay to the much improved Rt. 111 in Salem/Auburn/Derry/whatever town that is. I have to go that way this Friday and was dreading the 5-way cluster-F rt 111/28 intersection during rush hour.

New Yorker?????? I thought Poppa came from the midwest, though maybe a native of these here parts?????
I agree as do all I think, we get last dibs on the roads up here in the north country. We are supposed to get some paving this summer though, Fourth of July, I imagine.

So whats wrong with New Yawkers? Fughedaboudit!

You mean New Yorrrrrrkers!

are a pretty intelligent group (as a whole). After all, they were smart enough to relocate to our beautiful region of the country!
oc

We couldn't wait to get here, it took almost 20 years. We still have to go back to see the family and that's okay.