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Residents reluctant to embrace new traffic plan
By CUTTER MITCHELL
jmitchell@citizen.com
 

Plans presented by the N.H. Department of Transportation to convert the Alton traffic circle to a roundabout did not receive a warm reception from the 70 residents who attended a public hearing on the change.

The improvement plan calls for the total redesign of how the Route 11 and 28 traffic circle works, at a cost of about $2 million in federal and state funds.

As a result of the public opposition during Wednesday night's meeting, DOT officials said they would be considering an option more along the lines of the minor modifications that residents seemed to be agreeable to.

William Oldenburg, one of the preliminary designers of the project, explained that the roundabout was the DOT's top choice because the agency thought it would be the best way to both increase safety and boost traffic capacity.

Those goals would be primarily accomplished by building a complete, 1950s-style roundabout where everyone in the circle has the right of way. The best thing about such a plan, said Oldenburg, is that it would break up traffic on Route 28, preventing drivers from speeding in a straight shot.

"Right now the only thing to stop you are cars and driveways," said Oldenburg.

Oldenburg said that the DOT receives more complaints about the Alton traffic circle than any spot in the state, primarily from out-of-state tourists who are confused by the signs.

In assessing the traffic circle and what can be done to improve its function, the transportation department conducted a traffic study which found that 20,000 vehicles pass through on an average summer day. By 2030, projections put that number as high as 35,000 vehicles per day.

Nevertheless, most residents said they did not want to see such an major change for their traffic circle. Instead, many supported an option to bring Route 28 into the circle, making it more of a classic right of way with all entry points having to yield to vehicles in the circle.

"We don't want to look like Dover or Concord; we just want to be ourselves, and you are trying to take that way from us," said Bob Miller, adding that the minor improvements would leave the circle largely intact.

"I'm all for progress, but I'm not for a big change," said Rueben Wentworth, chair of the Alton Business Association which was host to the event.

Wentworth said his home center and five other businesses in town had circulated a survey to get a feeling of what the citizens were thinking. With more than 100 responding to the survey, 96 residents indicated that they would like the traffic circle the way it is.

Wentworth noted that, from a business standpoint, he feels the state needs to fix Route 28 and allow for tourists and other out-of-staters to easily travel to Alton and the rest of the Lakes Region.

Other speakers pointed out that the McDonald's restaurant and the Alton Circle Store would be affected by the plans as presented which would divert access to the businesses and limit visibility from the circle, by 150 yards in the Circle Store's case.

Alton resident Elaine Shields maintained, "the Alton traffic circle presents a wonderful greeting to our town. By taking it out, you would be ripping the face from Alton."

Others said they were uncomfortable with the source of the money to complete the job because DOT officials could not confirm when the federal government earmarked the $2.45 million for the traffic project.

Oldenburg admitted that he was uncertain how the money had been committed, saying only that he knew it was given in 2005 and was to be used for this project only.

Many disagreed about the need to change the traffic circle but supported the proposal to modify how Route 28 and 11 approached the circle.

Capt. Ryan Heath of the Alton Police Department had his own concerns about the proposed conversion to a roundabout.

"The one thing I have noticed over the years is that traffic never backs up with the traffic circle. When you consolidate it to a small roundabout circle, you are going to have a multi-car pileup when that one guy doesn't yield," said Heath.

The police captain said he would be in favor of the modifications as presented in the second option, only requesting that sidewalks be added to the entire stretch. He added that the top safety concerns are speed and pedestrian traffic, both of which are addressed under the modification options.

He noted that, if sidewalks had been part of the circle originally, there would not have been a pedestrian struck by a vehicle earlier this year at the mouth of Route 28.

Selectmen Peter Bolester said, whatever is done, the traffic circle needs to resemble just that, and it does not need to cost too much money to improve it.

While the primary plan the DOT presented would cost $2 million, the alternative plan would cost $500,000 to complete. Both would have construction dates set to begin in 2010.

Only two traffic circles in the state — those in Alton and Plymouth — function in that way, not giving the vehicles in the circle the right of way. Oldenburg said that design dates back to 1910 and was used in low-traffic areas — something that, more and more, Alton is not.

The six other towns that previously had traffic circles have converted to roundabouts similar to the one presented in the DOT plan, said Oldenburg.

For more information on the Alton Traffic Circle project, contact the N.H. Department of Transportation at 271-2604.
 

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