I want to provide some preliminary information to our families about proposed road/bridge construction and repairs that will begin this spring in our town. Why do I care (and why should you)? The construction may close at least one road that will affect our school bus runs. Here is the information I have so far from Steve Brewer, Public Works Director for Raymond:
1.
The contractor cannot commence work until April 6, 2015 and it must be completed by October 30, 2015.
2.
The contractor is limited to 9 weeks of closure for the Green Road bridge and 18 weeks of work zone barriers for Old Manchester Road (in other words, one lane will be open at a time).
3.
Under the contract, the contractor is allowed to close
Green Road. On the Old Manchester Road overpass they must maintain one lane in
each direction.
4.
The contract does not specify the sequence of bridge work, only that they can not be undertaken concurrently.
We are waiting for the exact schedule from the state's Contract Administrator and should have more information and a schedule near the middle of March. Our hope (and request) is that they wait and close Green Road during the summer- closing this road cuts one of our bus routes in half (the blue bus for the middle and elementary school and the purple bus for the high school). This will especially be important as Depot Road in Candia is expected to be closed for up to 9 weeks.
I want to assure everyone that Dail Transportation and I have been in close contact and are making plans for the bus routes to run with the least amount of disruption. There may be some changes in times and bus colors (I know, they are always yellow but the kids know what this means), and we will keep everyone informed about how this might affect our bus runs. Of course, all of this is contingent on the weather, so perhaps we will not have any construction around here until June!
