[Just Sold]

The current Rte. 93/Hooksett N & S rest areas are past their prime and need replacement. On many weekends the parking lot is full or close to its limit for visitors. The bathrooms are old and inadequate for today’s visitor volume. The Liquor stores get extremely over crowded on weekends, especially on holiday weekends. The current rest areas just plain do not meet the requirements and needs of today’s traveler. There are many who are local or traveling to their summer homes or vacation destination but there are many more who are just plain “Tourists” for the day and who will spend money all over NH doing it via Rte. 93. So for everyone traveling up and down Rte. 93 we need an attractive and useful rest area and that is what is coming.
The State has chosen to make a significant investment with a “partner” who will pay for most of what is required to make it happen. That is sure better than funding it by the state alone. The “partners” doing this have great track record in the restaurant and tourism industry and I expect we will see a top quality facility when it is completed that more than does what was expected.
The State’s business is tourism and you need to promote it in many ways. The new rest areas with the restaurants, gas station, liquor store, and tourist information etc. are just one way and will be a big plus for the traveling public. Do some traveling to other states that are tourist destinations and you will find similar rest areas but NH’s will be the newest and nicest.
Traffic volume is increasing and the highway gets very congested on weekends and holidays. On occasion I find myself in stop and go traffic from just north of the Hooksett rest areas to Rte. 89 and on into Concord. So infrastructure improvements to Rte.93 were and are needed with or without the new rest areas.