Neighbors weigh in at NHDOT’s Derryfield Roundabout meeting
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) held a Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) Project local concerns meeting at the Derryfield School on Thursday night to solicit any local concerns from local residents on a proposed roundabout in front of the Derryfield School.
MANCHESTER, N.H. – The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) held a Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) Project local concerns meeting at the Derryfield School on Thursday night to solicit any local concerns from local residents on a proposed roundabout in front of the Derryfield School.
The proposed roundabout would be placed near to the eastern entrance of the Derryfield School on Cougar Drive, taking a part of Cougar Drive and Bicentennial Drive and River Road from Chase Way to the Derryfield School tennis courts.
Thursday’s meeting marked the first stage in the process to create the roundabout, which aims to relieve traffic queues in the area, which can back up during school pick-up and drop-off periods.
Eighty percent of funds for the project will be provided by the federal government, with the Derryfield School agreeing to the other 20% of the roundabout’s cost. The Derryfield School is also expected to maintain the island in the middle of the roundabout. Design and planning for the project will be a joint venture of CMA Engineers, the Derryfield School, NHDOT and the City of Manchester.
Although additional analysis is possible to explore other methods to keep traffic moving, NH DOT civil engineer Tony Puntin said that an underpass/overpass was impractical, a traffic light would require an MUTCD warrant analysis, and it was unclear if additional lanes would alleviate the problem.
Several residents living on or near the Derryfield School on River Road expressed that they cannot leave their homes near the beginning and end of each school day due to backed up queues of cars. Sue Cashin, who lives on the corner of River Road and Union Street was one of those neighbors.
“We have at least two or three good accidents every year because we have people flying down Union trying to make it toward school and they just don’t make it,” she said. “And as soon as the traffic starts, we can’t back out of our driveway.”
Following Thursday’s meeting, a follow-up meeting with proposed actions stemming from Thursday’s suggestions is scheduled for sometime in January. Design will take place from early 2025 to early 2026, with the hope of advertising the project to construction companies in early 2026 and construction in summer and fall of 2026. However, this timeline is subject to change.
