[mcdude]

From the Laconia Daily Sun

DOT touts roundabout for The Weirs
LACONIA — City officials will meet with representatives of the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (DOT) tomorrow to review plans for replacing “dysfunction junction,” the intersection of Weirs Boulevard (Route 11B) and Route 3 at The Weirs, with a roundabout. Michael Dugas of the DOT said yesterday that the department will present planes for a roundabout, similar in design and size to that at the junction of Route 3 and Parade Road (Route 106) in Meredith, to replace the existing intersection. Last August, DOT presented a roundabout, together with two plans incorporating traffic signals, at a public meeting at the Weirs Community Center. Dugas said that construction could begin in the spring of 2012 and be completed in one full construction season while acknowledging that working around Motorcycle Week and the tourist season will pose a challenge. “The roundabout is the preferred solution,” Dugas said, explaining that traffic signals would cause congestion, particularly as southbound motorists on Route 3 queued across the bridge and beyond waiting to turn on to Weirs Boulevard. He said in addition to easing and simplifying the flow of vehicular traffic, the roundabout would include features to ensure safe passage for bicyclists and safe crossing for pedestrians. Tom Pucci, chair of the Weirs Action Committee and owner of the Grandview Inn, said that the organization, which represents the business community, was virtually unanimous in its support for a roundabout. “We believe a roundabout will ensure a steady flow of traffic without causing back ups and tie ups,” he said.

According to the records of the DOT, 59 accidents occurred at the intersection between 2002 and 2006, many of them involving visitors to the city unfamiliar with how to negotiate the junction and most caused by motorists failing to yield to oncoming traffic. Dugas said that roundabouts are safer than conventional intersections since all traffic travels in the same direction rather than in opposing directions and left-hand turns against oncoming traffic are eliminated. Moreover, the radius of roundabouts is a function of the “design speed,” with the lower the desired speed the tighter the turning radius. For instance, the roundabout in Meredith is designed to slow traffic to 20 miles per hour. Dugas said that the roundabout at The Weirs would be designed to accommodate the turning radius of large vehicles like semi-trucks and buses as well as the Fire Department’s new aerial ladder engine. Dugas said that while the bulk of the project can be constructed within the existing state right-of-way it will be necessary to acquire a small slice of the vacant lot at the southeast corner of the intersection. He said that a public meeting would be scheduled in April and a formal public hearing on the acquisition of the property in August and September with an eye to purchasing the property and bidding the job in 2011