Planners to Recommend Keeping Traffic Light on Route 111

For the first time this year, town planners met to discuss the heated traffic light issue that could shape the planning of Windham for years to come.

The Windham Planning Board voted 6-0-1 on Wednesday to recommend that the traffic light at the intersection of the current Routes 111 and 111A should remain.

The current directive for the state is to remove the light, as per the decision of the Board of Selectmen in 2002.

As part of the Planning Board motion, a letter to the current Board of Selectmen will be drafted.

Planners are also recommending that a trio of unique ideas be looked into as the town works to develop its gateway district.

Those ideas include a trio of potential roundabouts, an internal access road on the former Applewood Golf Links property, and connecting the proposed new Route 111A to the current Route 111A further up near the Nault's Windham Motorcycles property.

"I'm really impressed with what I'm hearing, and I think we should continue to think outside the box," said Windham resident and local engineer Karl Dubay.

The issue was brought before planners by alternate board member Alan Carpenter, who presented a "right in, right out" approach for entering and exiting the new Route 111A from the existing Route 111.

The new Route 111A would then connect to the old Route 111A to give a quick loop for those who want to head back on Route 111 toward the center of town.

The short connector between the old and new stretches of Route 111 could further run through the old road, linking behind the state-owned property to a potential service road. 

Carpenter said that the service road on the former driving range property could run all the way to the Delahunty property.

"It will create a traffic circulation opportunity that will help keep traffic off of (the Route 111/111A intersection), which is going to be probably one of the busiest in town," Carpenter said.

All of Carpenter's ideas would require working with private property owners in the area.

Community Development Director Laura Scott suggested that the town do a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District and do the access road themselves, rather than ask the New Hampshire Department of Transportation to do it.

"They're not developers, that's not what they do," she said of the NHDOT.

Selectman Al Letizio Jr. delivered the roundabout strategy, which would see three intersections in a row feature the two-lane traffic circles.

The roundabouts could be designed for the Delahunty Drive intersection with Route 111, the old Route 111A intersection with Route 111 and the new Route 111A intersection with Route 111.

"This can be done," Letizio said. "It may not be on the top of (the state's) priority list because it may be complicated for them."

Kathleen DiFruscia, Selectmen representative to the Planning Board, said the idea was a wonderful concept, but questioned the price.

The N.H. Route 111 Corridor and Wall Street Extension Study completed by the town in 2011 shows three straight roundabouts starting at CVS and heading toward North Lowell Road.

Planning Board Vice Chairwoman Margaret Crisler said she has never been a fan of roundabouts, but was supportive of studying the issue.

Letizio wants to look at the roundabout idea as a way to create an "iconic" feature in town. Both he and board alternate Vanessa Nysten compared the idea to a roundabout in Chatham, Mass.

The Board of Selectmen will meet with the NHDOT on July 22. The state has stressed to the town that because of bids needing to go out in September, they need a direction from the town very soon.

Some opponents of removing the 111/111A traffic light have argued that it will hurt their businesses in that area. Proponents of removal believe it will screw up their plans that were set in motion 11 years ago.

The re-alignment of Routes 111 and 111A is expected to be complete in 2016, along with the widening of Interstate 93.