The Hudson Planning Board met on Jan. 22 to discuss moving forward with a stalled extension of Belknap Road. Started in 2019 under an older Planning Board and the Highway Safety Committee, such an extension would connect Belknap Road to Lowell Road.
“This started with a $10,000 assessment of what could be done at County Road, Lowell Road, and Belknap. Then COVID hit, and everything was put on pause,” explained Town Engineer Elvis Dhima. “It’s come up again because we’ve had about 11 accidents in the past five or six years. We’re having some major issues.”
The current unconnected intersection has been highlighted as a significant safety issue in Hudson. There were few immediate concerns over funding.
“We’ve done an outstanding job collecting corridor funds from developers for improvements like this. We’re utilizing one of the four criteria, one of the four layouts originally proposed. We had a low bid, are done with the design, are doing a dredge-and-fill permit right now with the state, and we’re seeking state or federal funds to do his project with a 80-20 split, which means 80% comes from the state or the feds, and 20% comes from us with the corridor funds.”
Town officials planned to make their case for outside funding once the design-build is finalized. A federal NEPA will be required to meet environmental requirements, which is expected to take six to eight months. Other issues include pursuing all right-of-way issues.
“There’s only going to be two properties impacts, it’s very minor and is just the area around the buffer which can’t be used anyway,” said Dhima. “The theme here is to have the Belknap-Lowell Road extension shovel ready.”
He asked the Planning Board to dedicate $100,000 for the purchase of a right of way, along with $65,000 to oversee the NEPA permit process. If funding is approved, there would not be an impact on local taxpayers, although the use of corridor funds would need a green light from voters and the Board of Selectmen. Corridor funds are collected from developers to be set aside for town infrastructure projects like Belknap Road.
“This should alleviate a lot of the T-bones in front of T-BONES,” joked Vice-Chair Jordan Ulrey. “Also, since they had a water main situation there and there was some flooding back on Mother’s Day in several houses on the other side of County Road. This should reduce some of the flood damage.”
Dhima warned the project alone likely would not see much flood relief until a nearby culvert project is completed, but that the extension would give drivers an alternate route when Lowell Road has standing water.
“This is a really important project for the town, for safety purposes and ease in terms of transportation coming in and out of County Road. I just want to reinforce that,” said Selectman Bob Guessferd. “I heartily endorse this.”
Without much debate, the Planning Board unanimously voted to recommend approval of corridor funds for the Belknap extension.
The Hudson Planning Board is scheduled to meet again on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. in the Buxton Room of Town Hall.