Selectmen move Fox Hollow intersection to top of repair list

“It’s not the most fair thing, but we can get a project out of the way.” Terenzini also expressed a concern over the current method of approving roads for construction each year, and suggested that a schedule for improvements of the Rt. 25 intersections could help. Putting road repairs and construction on a three or five-year plan, Terenzini said, would allow them to “design one year, and construct it in the next.” A cycle, he said, would keep the town on schedule with prime spring bidding season for road projects and not delayed, like the Ossipee Park Road’s experience earlier this year. Crawford said she would support a warrant article for this, so long as the money could go back into the general fund, if the DOT could not commit to their promised two-thirds. The motion was approved unanimously.that a solution had to be found for everyone on the road. In a meeting with several members of the Fox Hollow Steering Committee and the Planning Board, Lamprey said that they came in to ask about the possibility of using the DOT salt shed property to help with the intersection. They came out with an offer of funding help for the project. “He said, if it helps everybody, I’ll do it, and come up with two-thirds of the money,” said Lamprey. “Never did I think he’d come up with such an answer.” The selectmen then had to wrestle with the question of whether a project with low priority but high potential funding assistance outranked more dangerous intersections (according to the matrix) in priority. Selectman Ed Charest said that with the current economic climate and the state’s long list of road projects, it could be “15-20 years” before they would be able to assist with some of the projects. The selectmen also considered the needs of other intersections, ranked as more dangerous than Fox Hollow Road’s intersection with Rt. 25. Jean Beadle narrated a frightening experience that she’d had earlier that week, trying to make a left-hand turn onto Sheridan Road. This intersection was prioritized in second place on the matrix list. “There was a large white delivery truck coming behind me, and I knew it would not be able to stop,” said Beadle. “So I gambled. Fortunately, the oncoming cars pulled over to the shoulder to let me by. I made the decision there to never again be a sitting duck. I will now continue down the road and turn around in the village.” Beadle said that didn’t mean for her comments to constitute a “yes or no” on Fox Hollow, but she hoped that some low-cost fixes could be made to the Sheridan Road intersection. Charest said that to make any changes, the town would have to go through the DOT, as the authorities on Rt. 25, and Terenzini noted that an engineer would likely have to review and make recommendations. Beadle herself recommended a left-hand turn lane from Rt. 25 to Sheridan Road. Terenzini said he wanted to correct the amount of funding that the town would come up with – the figure of $94,500 given by Lamprey in the week previous was wrong. A more accurate assessment of the town’s share would be about $153,000, Terenzini said, one-third of the $400,000 estimate given by the Louis Berger Group’s engineering study of the intersection. Selectman Chair Karel Crawford expressed reservations on the potential of prioritizing Fox Hollow Road over the other projects listed above it in the matrix. She also expressed a bit of caution over depending on the DOT to come through with the funding. “I don’t feel the commissioner should dedicate to one part of the road (Rt. 25). We have to represent the town of Moultonboro, and we have to represent the entire town, and others on the other intersection. I feel that because politically, because someone knew someone, though he has every right to do so, it feels wrong for the DOT to pick one road because Mr. Lamprey lives on Fox Hollow Road.” Charest pointed out that, regardless of who spoke to whom, the possibility existed for the town to improve at least one of the dangerous intersections. After the recent engineering studies of the road, Charest said that he didn’t like the idea of the project being postponed, so that engineering studies would have to be done again. “Here is a chance to do one (intersection), no matter where the money comes from, and if things keep going up, it will cost even more (if postponed),” said Charest. “Engineering studies were done on Fox Hollow 14 years ago, and were dropped. We need to do something soon.” “I kind of agree with Ed,” said Selectman Joel Mudgett.