Windham committee favors conceptual "Alternative 5" for Route 111, including roundabouts

The Windham Economic Development Committee on May 8 heard an update on the New Hampshire Department of Transportation’s conceptual alternatives for Route 111 and reported local preference for the plan labeled “Alternative 5.” Gary Garfield, speaking for the Infrastructure subcommittee, said the Project Advisory Committee had shown “an almost unanimous vote for Alternative 5,” a concept that calls for four roundabouts, one retained signal, two lanes in each direction and a central median except near several existing businesses.

The preference was discussed as part of an NHDOT draft report for the corridor; Garfield said comments on the draft were due May 15 and that the design would be finalized before presentation to the Board of Selectmen. He urged the town to assert its priorities with NHDOT rather than wait for the state to take unilateral action.

Committee members raised practical questions about how the conceptual design would be refined. Whitney Taylor asked whether roundabouts could accommodate large trucks at the Wall Street approach; members were told that truck-turning and other detailed accommodation issues would be resolved in the detailed-design stage rather than at the conceptual level. Garfield also noted that any substantive changes would need to follow the NHDOT Ten-Year Plan process.

The committee recorded there were no new developments in the town’s PFAS lawsuit during the update. The Infrastructure subcommittee’s recommendation and the PAC’s draft-report comment deadline set the next procedural steps: members will submit comments and the town will follow NHDOT’s schedule toward final design and BOS review.