Portsmouth Avenue Project Could Cause Major Headaches

Nighttime construction, or a "massive" detour on a major town roadway? 

That's the difficult decision facing Exeter selectmen, who were asked Monday night to decide between those two options for a two to three month water and sewer construction project on Portsmouth Avenue.

Department of Public Works Director Jennifer Perry told selectmen that the $1.12 million project, approved by Town Meeting voters, is just about ready to go out to bid. 

The project consists of replacing the sewer line and some water services from High Street all the way to Provident Bank. The anticipated timeline would be to start in September and be finished by November.

"This work has to take place," she said. "We have collapsed sewers on Portsmouth Avenue. We've been fortunate we haven't had any more recent collapses. And water services have corroded to the point where they pull out from the water main."

But before the work can begin, selectmen need to decide on traffic control measures.

"The width of Portsmouth Avenue at the southern end of the project is narrower," Perry said. "For the first section, from High Street to the Green Hill intersection is too narrow to accommodate two-way traffic while we have construction going on. So we have two options for traffic control."

The first option, Perry said, would be to detour northbound (outbound) traffic on Portsmouth Avenue to travel east on High Street to the intersection with Holland Way and up Holland Way. Southbound (inbound) traffic would continue on Portsmouth Avenue.

The second option, she said, is nighttime construction, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. But this would impact 25 parcels, some of which are multi-family buildings, and would also be more costly and likely take longer to complete.

Perry said DPW, police, fire and the project engineer recommend the detour. She said it ultimately is up to selectmen, but she needs a decision within the next two weeks so the project can be put out to bid.

"The downside of nighttime is it's more expensive and we'll have an uprising from residents," Selectman Dan Chartrand said, summarizing the situation. "The downside of the detour is that it is a massive detour."
 
Three selectmen voiced support for the nighttime construction option because it would impact the fewest residents, while one favored the detour.

"If you're doing an analysis of the least harm, fewest people, I think you've gotta go nighttime," Chartrand said.

"I'm not crazy about nighttime construction," Selectman Frank Ferraro added, but the alternative is "unbearable" traffic on some "very small side streets."

In the end, Selectmen Chairman Don Clement decided to wait until the board's next meeting in two weeks to make a final decision.

"We're just hearing this for the first time tonight, we're just hearing the potential mayhem..." Clement said. "I would like to sit and digest this."