NH Primary + Fat Tuesday 5K + possible snow = Perfect Election Day storm

MANCHESTER, NH – With more than a dozen road races already on the calendar for 2016, it’s clear that running rivals politics here in New Hampshire for popular pastimes.

So what happens when worlds collide?

We may be about to find out, when the Millennium Running Fat Tuesday 5K and the NH Primary have to share real estate on Feb. 9.

⇒UPDATE: Road race postponed: Read all about it

On Feb. 2 Manchester Police released the list of planned road closures for the road race, which will be concentrated in Ward 3, which includes downtown Manchester. Ward 3 voters cast their ballots at the Carol M. Rines Cente on Elm Street. Also potentially affected would be Ward 7 residents, who vote at St. Anthony Community Center on Belmont Street. The race is set to being at 7 p.m. and will require the following road closures:

Beginning at 6 p.m.
– Elm St will be closed from Hanover to Merrimack streets

Beginning at 6:50 p.m.
– Canal Street / River Road will be closed from Clarke to Granite streets
– Webster Street between Elm Street and River Road will be closed
– North Street between Elm Street and River Road will be closed
– The right-hand southbound lane of Elm Street from Webster Street to North Street will be closed. Southbound traffic will be reduced to one lane only for this area.
– East bound traffic on the Amoskeag Bridge will not be allowed to exit to Canal Street

The race is expected to draw up to 1,200 participants.

Christine Murphy of Manchester says she sees it as a matter of poor planning on someone’s part. She found out about the road closures after getting a Nixle alert on Tuesday, which gave her pause: She’s one of several Bernie Sanders campaign volunteers planning to help drive voters to the polls Tuesday.

“My first thought was, ‘Oh, jeez, that’s about an hour before the polls close.’ The downtown is already going to be packed with news media from all over the country,” Murphy says.

“I think it’s just poor planning – this happens every summer, too. The Cigna road race, is always on Fisher Cats game days. We’re  season ticket holders, and the detours always cause traffic to back up. Hopefully we won’t get lost from detours,” says Murphy, who lives in Ward 4.

She said the location of the road closures may also slow her down as she heads to Goffstown and Bedford, where she is scheduled to also pick up voters to get them to their local polling locations.

Meanwhile, a spokesman from the Mayor’s office on Wednesday morning said they had already begun to receive phone calls from residents with concerns about how the road closures would effect people trying to get to the polls in the final hours. Polls in Manchester close at 7 p.m.

Also adding some intrigue to the mix: A snowstorm is on the radar for Tuesday, which could postpone the road race until Saturday Feb. 13, but also potentially could effect voter turnout.

We’ve reached out for comment to the mayor’s office, the city clerk, the Ward Alderman and the race organizers. We’ll update the story when we have more information.