Official tour of parkway route planned
By PATRICK MEIGHAN
Staff Writer
If you go
Tour of the southern half of the Broad Street Parkway route
Where: Starts in the large parking lot at the Milyard complex off Pine Street Extension.
When: 9 a.m. Saturday.
NASHUA – If it’s hard for you to visualize where the Broad Street Parkway will dissect the downtown, Saturday will be your day.
City officials will host a walking tour of the southern half of the parkway’s route, the portion south of the Nashua River.
A tour of the area north of the river might happen later, but that would take more planning because much of the land north of the river is still privately owned, said Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly.
Pressly said the walking tour was her idea to provide information to people who have questions about the long-proposed roadway’s route from near the Exit 6 Welcome Center southeast across the river, through the Millyard and ending downtown near Pine Street.
The tour is sponsored by the aldermen’s infrastructure committee, of which Pressly is a member.
Among the city officials taking part will be Leon Kenison, the public works director, and engineer John Vancor, the project manager for the parkway.
Walkers will meet by 9 a.m. in the large parking lot at the Millyard complex off Pine Street Extension.
“If it rains, bring an umbrella because we’re going to do it anyway,” Pressly said.
First proposed as a four-lane, limited access road, the parkway has been scaled back to two lanes and its route slightly modified, especially in its eastern section, where it crosses the Nashua River and connects to Pine Street.
The project is expected to cost about $68 million and is being paid for in part by federal money and in part by a $37.6 million bond the aldermen approved in 2008. So far, the city has spent $14 million in federal money.
More property will also have to be acquired; some lots already have been taken through eminent domain, including property that lay in the path of the old route but that no longer lies in the new path.
Construction would likely begin next spring with the removal of the former boilerhouse in the Millyard, officials said.
Patrick Meighan can be reached at 594-6518 or pmeighan@nashuatelegraph.com.
