I hope everyone is ready to begin the Water Street Detour. I am not sure what day next week it will begin. It will have a bumpy start. I was out this morning and wanted to report on the signage alerting drivers to the changes.
This is the intersection of Water Street & Salem Street.This is a major intersection for many commuters. The left drops you to Water St and out to Newfields Road. It has been equipped with 2 do not enter signs. Drivers will be forced to go right, back to the Water & Main Street intersection.That intersection is busy all day currently, especially during the commute. Then they will take a left, thread their way(literally some mornings) through the coffee shop parking gauntlet and coffee junkie jaywalkers to the Swasey mouth then left again to continue their journey outbound to 101. A smart guy or gal will do that one time. The real smart ones will soon after the detour turn right again on Park St, race up and over the RR bridge and get back to Epping Road and then 101. They will avoid the Swasey entrance.
So the habitual user will seek alternate routes.
The 111A traffic will now turn left on Epping to reach 101 rather than use the
Park Street- Oak Street-Salem Street-Water St- Newfield Rd -Route 101
route.
Increasing the number of cars turning left from 111A will have an impact on the Columbus Ave/111A intersection, already under severe pressure.
Route 111 traffic cuts across the grid using Winter Street then the same route past the Park Street Common to reach Newfields Road.Riverwoods drivers capable of 101 exit jumping use this route to the grocery stores and many commuters bound to and from the low tax(no services) hamlets of Brentwood and the Kingstons.
Route 111 currently(today) has no signage alerting anyone to the detour. Route 111 drivers might be advised to stay on Front St and head for Spring Street or Center Street for a quick duck over to the mouth of the Swasey,then on to Newfields or Route 101. There is quite bit of traffic that I see on Newfields Road headed to Portsmouth using 108 to Squamscott Road rejoining 33 above the Stratham clutter. UNH is a destination too, right Lionel?
I was in Xtra mart today on Main Street for some milk, they sell newspapers, but don’t read them, they had no clue to the detour. I was just suggesting they may see an uptick of coffee and butt sales. Main Street past the school in the morning will be different, read busy.
I am suggesting we make a better effort with signage well outside the area of the actual detour.
You will see lots of pattern changes as folks figure this out.
Exit hopping which occurs between Exits 9 10 11 will increase which causes conflicts with the high speed traffic.
I saw the detour map the Newsletter had in the paper at my Aunts place this morning. I don’t take the paper anymore. Was it just my Aunts edition that had the illegible map? I noticed the Allen Furniture ad was perfect(awful)
Please exercise caution when motoring on the Parkway. The Parkway pavilion is attractive to children and the steps are close to the road.
It’s still a Park despite this detour.
1900 voted out of 11000
Mike
UPDATE 4/17/11 1pm
The detour will be in place sometime tomorrow, Monday 4/18/11
Still covered as of this AM: DO NOT ENTER signs on water street at Summer street. (In other words, you can still turn right onto Water, but must turn off at Summer or before.) There’s going to be some brake-jamming tire squealing over there for awhile. Given the magnitude of the change, and the possibility of trouble with a two-way street that suddenly turns one way, the signage appears to be a bit short. Lots of police OT ahead. Maybe they can route the traffic over by Jady Hill.