A number of concerns have been raised to the town boards about safety concerns at the intersection of Stonehenge and Hardy Road. It is currently a two-way stop, but the dangers of this intersection have raised the needs for this to become a four way stop and was voted to move forward with this process recently by the Safety Committee.
The hope is to help decrease the danger of taking a left hand out of Hardy Road. Councilor Jim Butler feels this was a good vote and that this is an issue of safety.
Another issue presented to the town council was the intersection of Stonehenge Road and Route 28. Originally, this was not part of the ten year highway plan and was also not recommended by Southern New Hampshire Planning to go into the plan.
Nonetheless, members of the Londonderry community persisted that this was in fact an issue and the town even offered to pay half for the intersection improvement by using the money that the legislator and the governor gave to the town back at the end of the fiscal year, about $620,000 if the state would agree to reconstruct this intersection of Stonehenge and Route 28.
According to Town Manager Kevin Smith, Executive Councilor Chris Pappas was not only able to get this construction/ reconstruction into the ten year highway plan, but also was able to get the project underway starting in FY 2019 (next July). This will be when the engineering work will begin and then construction will begin in FY 2020.
The governor will still have to approve of the plan, but the town has made their approval of this issue apparent to the governor’s office and how this needs to be completed, because it is an issue of safety. This safety issue being addressed was largely in part to Councilor Chris Pappas helping to put through the plan, but also due to the part of the residents of Londonderry. With residents coming forward and voicing their opinions and concerns, the town was able to make accommodations to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible. There will also be more stop signs being put in at the intersection of Stonehenge and Hardy Rd. to help slow down drivers in a more cautious area. There will also most likely be the implementation of a stop light at the intersection of Stonehenge Rd .and Rt. 28. Smith also said that he wanted the public to know that their concerns about these two intersections was not ignored and that the town and councilors knew this issue had to be addressed and as quickly as possible.