Following a short discussion with input from members of the Planning Board, residents of the road and the road agent, the Select Board unanimously turned down a request to upgrade Moran Road to make it a possible egress from a connecting New Ipswich subdivision.
Moran Road, which is a class VI road, turns into Stowell Road at the New Ipswich town line. The Select Board were approached by Bruce Simpson of Holden Engineering to discuss using Moran Road as a possible exit from a multi-lot subdivision on the New Ipswich side.
Simpson suggested that if the town were not willing to upgrade the raod to class V, there was also the possibility of opening it as an emergency lane to allow fire and police access.
Residents of Moran Road present at the meeting protested the possibility of road construction in the area, citing possible disturbance of nearby dug wells.
Road Agent Tim Fiske noted that he had his own objections as well.
“The well is a minor detail,” he said. “The worse thing is the affect of the flow of traffic on Moran Road.”
Moran Road is not built to sustain any amount of substantial traffic, said Fiske, and even if it is upgraded to only an emergency lane, he expressed the opinion that as soon as it became passable, residents would want to use it as a thoroughfare to New Ipswich, and increase in traffic would mean that the road eventually would have to be upgraded – an expensive endeavor.
“There is no good from opening that road to anyone in this town,” said Fiske. “It hasn’t be a through road in 60 years.”
Select Board member Allan Pickman noted that the issue of using Moran Road as an egress had been brought up to the Planning Board in the past, in 2011, and though the membership of the board has changed since that time, the board of the day had not been in favor of the idea.
The Select Board agreed unanimously to deny the request to perform any upgrades to Moran Road.