State-funded traffic study aids Peterborough in tackling traffic issues

A traffic study on five locations in Peterborough will produce data so the town can address traffic-related issues, Assistant Town Administrator Seth MacLean said at the Select Board’s Tuesday night meeting.

The town requested the study, which was conducted at no cost to the town by the state’s Southwest Regional Planning Committee, partly in preparation for the opening of the new fire and ambulance station on Elm Street.

Henry Underwood, senior planner for the SRPC, presented the findings to the board.

“Getting some context and data on the traffic flow on Elm Street enables us to take the next step as far as the design for that intersection, in order to help with emergency services, which will need to exit Elm Street,” MacLean said. “We now have a foundational base of knowledge we can use to identify any problems, and to know where the problem is, and we can look at what do about the traffic congestion on the street.”

MacLean said the traffic study is the first step in tackling some of Peterborough’s problem areas, including looking ahead at how traffic flow at Elm Street and Route 101 will be impacted by the new fire station campus and flow of emergency vehicles.

“With this data we can now say, who do we want to bring to the table so we can sort out the problems? We will work with a design team if we choose, and we’ll come up with a solution to solve the problems that have been identified,” he said.  

The Regional Planning Committee traffic study generated data about the 101/202 intersection, the Elm Street and Route 101 intersection, and the “five-way intersection” where Main, High, Vine, Union and Elm streets come together downtown.

The study determined an average of 9,493 vehicles travel on 101 between Elm Street and Old Dublin Road each weekday; 92.8% of the vehicles are “light duty” vehicles, comprising cars and small trucks.

Data from pneumatic tubes monitored by the committee indicates that 85% of eastbound drivers approach the 101/202 lights traveling at  44.7 mph or less, while 85% of westbound drivers were going 49.9 mph or less.

Underwood said the 85% benchmark is commonly used to set appropriate speed limits, and added that the existing 35 mph speed limit near the 101/202 intersection is “unenforceable.”

“We would like to see a speed limit closer to the speed people are actually driving. It should be posted within 5 miles of what people actually drive,” Underwood said.

He said the state Department of Transportation might support a higher speed limit at the intersection.

“DOT would probably be amenable to changing it because it is so far outside of what is enforceable. To try to enforce 35 mph here would be a huge burden for law enforcement. People are going much faster than the speed limit in this entire stretch,” Underwood said.  

The study also showed that an average of 3,732 vehicles per day pass the Community Center and future site of the Fire and Rescue Station on Elm Street, with 95.5% of the vehicles light duty. 

Underwood said, “The poor condition of the pavement on Elm Street probably slows people down.”

“There is also a lot of pedestrian traffic and a lot of curb cuts,” he said.

Data from the five-way intersection revealed the highest traffic volume entails cars turning left from Main to Elm Street in the morning, with the flow reversed in the afternoon, and with heavier afternoon traffic flow heading down Union Street.

MacLean said that safety at the five-way intersection has long been a challenge for the town.

“With the five-way, we have all kinds of concerns about what’s going on there. We have concerns about people speeding on High Street, Union Street, Main Street, Elm Street– even River Street. We have concerns from crossing guards about children crossing from River Street to the other side, and we have stormwater drainage problems, which are going to lead to a significant construction project on the Elm Street bridge, which we are going to do in the spring,” MacLean said. “We have all kinds of things to figure out.”

MacLean added that “aesthetics are also a concern” at the intersection.

“We have a tremendous amount of asphalt there,” he said. “With this data, we can look at how can we make it safer, how can we make it function better, and possibly, how can we make it look better.”

New Hampshire traffic data is available on the NHDOT website at https://www.dot.nh.gov/about-nh-dot/divisions-bureaus-districts/traffic/traffic-data-and-information.