Tree trimming to accommodate utility upgrades up Pack Monadnock in Miller State Park in Peterborough is expected to begin soon. The recently released updated utility upgrade plans for the project were created with input from regular Pack Monadnock hikers to preserve the natural aesthetics along the access road.
The New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources presented the revised plan for the first phase of utility upgrades on Pack Monadnock on Oct. 16. The first phase involves rerouting utility lines off the mountain’s access road in an effort to minimize the visual impact of the utilities on the road. The updated plan was the result of almost two years of collaborations between stakeholders after local users protested the original plan put forth in late 2017.
Existing utility infrastructure did not meet National Electric Safety Code (NESC) requirements two years ago when the first version of the utility safety upgrade plan went public.
“Wires were on the ground in some places, and in other places, the distance between the ground and the wires did not meet the clearance required by the NESC. Those concerns cannot be adequately addressed until new poles are in place and the wires transferred to those poles,” said Amanda Noonan of the NH Public Utilities Commission.
Originally, the Division of Parks and Recreation, NH Public Utilities Commission and Eversource proposed to reroute the existing utility poles and surface mounted conduit to the access road to allow for easy future repairs. Local users said the proposal would destroy the road’s aesthetics, and requested the lines be buried or routed away from the road. The updated plan specifies that the utility poles be placed along a new route through the woods to the west of the road, which local users say will satisfactorily minimize the visual impact of the project.
“The cost of the project is expected to increase from the estimate for the initial plan proposed, but that cost is not yet finalized,” Eversource spokesperson Kaitlyn Woods said. “We believe that our revised plan appropriately strikes the right balance of enhancing the safety of the park for patrons and preserving the natural beauty of the park for visitors well into the future.”
She said that tree trimming would begin this fall.
“As long as weather and mountain conditions permit, we expect to complete this part of the project in advance of the winter months.”
David Baum, a representative of local user interests in the planning process, expressed satisfaction at the cooperation between agencies.
“If any of us had painted ourselves into a corner, and saw the people we were working within a negative way, there would be no progress,” he said. “The paradigm shift was to not see this as a road, but a walkway… potentially the most high traffic one. … That was a real eye-opener for them.”
The second phase of the project involves upgrading the electric and communications infrastructure at the summit to current safety codes, and visually enhancing the summit to improve the experience of the park for visitors, according to Woods.
“A collaborative team representing all stakeholders will evaluate the available options for completing the second phase of this project, and develop a plan that most successfully achieves these goals. We look forward to working with all our partners to develop this plan, and to sharing it with the public,” she said.
Baum said the hikers were interested in painting summit buildings and fences to unobtrusive colors, cleaning up trash, and removing or relocating unsightly infrastructure wherever possible.