Route 111 Work to Mostly Take Place in 2015

While the New Hampshire Department of Transportation has set a target date of 2016 for the completion of the new Route 111 in Windham, much of the work will not take place until 2015, according to Project Manager Peter Stamnas.

The new Route 111, which will run parallel with the current road, will have two lanes in both directions with a 20-foot center median. The town construction is funded as part of the Interstate 93 widening, and will take place in unison with changes to the highway.

Stamnas said that bids for the Windham work opened last week, and NHDOT is hoping within a month or two to get started with an active contract. The cost is $36 million.

According to project representative Dan Primo, work on the I-93 interchange will consume the 2013 and 2014 construction season, representing the main portion of the project. The widening of three-and-a-half miles of the southbound main line will take place.

Steel for the Route 111a highway bridge will also go up from Sept. 25 to Sept. 26. That construction will take place from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m. each day, and road detours will occur in town.

The current intersection at Routes 111 and 111a will become a pedestrian-only location, featuring a special traffic light that is the first of its kind in New Hampshire.

Windham Fire Chief Tom McPherson indicated that the HAWK pedestrian light is common in Wisconsin. It features two lights followed by one below, and is unlit until a pedestrian pushes the button.

The state will temporarily place the Exit 3 park-and-ride behind the CVS on Wall St., which is where the current Route 111 will connect with the new Route 111. The goal is to place a permanent park-and-ride across the street from the current Citizens Bank location.

Stamnas indicated that the permanent park-and ride will start with 150 spaces with the capacity to expand to 500.

"When there is demand for additional spaces or a bus station, it will accomodate a bus station," he said. "We've got a footprint for a bus station similar to Exit 2."

Traffic will be shifted to the new I-93 main line at the end of the 2014 construction season. Traffic will be shifted to the new Route 111 at the end of 2015, with some follow-up work in the spring of 2016 to tie up the project.

Close to $250 million of the I-93 widening project is still unfunded, essentially almost everything north of the weigh station at Exit 3.