An Extensive Highway Network Serves the Thirty-Five Towns in the MPO Study Area

CHAPTER 4 Highways An extensive highway network serves the eighteen towns in the MPO study area. The purpose of this chapter is to provide more detailed information about the roadways and the issues that challenge the Strafford MPO region. Plan Goals Directly Addressed By This Chapter All of the goals in this plan relate to our region’s roads. The highway system has a tremendous influence on Goal 1, as Goal 1: Accessibility/Mobility the region's highway system is the predominant carrier of Goal 2: Safety people for employment, services, and recreation. As such, Goal 3: Security maintenance efficiency improvements to the highway Goal 5: Land Use And system support regional economic development. Efforts to Transportation increase highway safety address Goal 2, while Goal 5 is Goal 6: Economic Development addressed through efforts to improve air quality and And Transportation enhance access to natural and cultural amenities. A. Background By providing access to land, the transportation system has a tremendous impact on the physical settlement patterns of a region, and in New Hampshire, that has been defined almost solely by the extent of the roadway network. Traditionally, the region has placed the greatest emphasis on expansion and improvements to the highway system. This is reflected in the well-developed system of state and local roads that provide access to a significant portion of the land in the region. There are however, some deficiencies in that network that have become more apparent as population growth has pushed development further and further from the traditional town centers, placing larger traffic burdens on secondary state highways and local roads. B. Existing Conditions This section of the chapter will detail the existing roadway network and its attributes, including traffic volumes, recent improvements, and future improvements in the planning or design stages. 1. Roadway Network The study area's principal transportation routes include NH Routes 16, 108, 125, 155, and US Routes 1 and 202, serving north-south traffic, and NH Routes 27, 84, 88, 107, and 151, and US Route 4 which serve east-west traffic. See Map 4.1 for the locations of these principal transportation routes in the region. 2007-2026 Long Range Transportation Plan Strafford MPO 4-2 Highways NH 101 and US 4 are two of the region’s major east-west facilities. Both Bi-annual traffic highways run the width of the state and have experienced high volume reports congestion and accident rates. In recent years, both facilities have and complete undergone upgrades. US Route 4 is generally a two-lane facility with printouts of all Average Daily Traffic (ADTs)1 over 18,500 (2000) east of NH 108 and counts in the 9,300 (2000) at the Nottingham/Northwood Town Line. region are available the Other important north-south corridors include US 1 that parallels I-95, SRPC office. NH 125 which runs from the Massachusetts border to the northern tip of Strafford County, and NH 16, also known as the Spaulding Turnpike from Newington to Milton. US 1 is a heavily commercialized two lane roadway for most of its length, with ADTs ranging from 12,000 (1999) in Seabrook to approximately 24,000 (1999) just south of the Portsmouth traffic circle. NH 16, also known as the Spaulding Turnpike, is a limited access toll roadway that carries heavy commuter and tourist traffic and serves as a gateway from the Seacoast to the Lakes Region. ADTs on NH 16 ranges from 61,000 (2000) just south of the Gosling Road interchange (Exit 1) to only 7,900 (1999) at the northern end of the study area in Wakefield. Additionally, NH 125 and NH 108 serve an increasing volume of traffic from the Massachusetts line to the northern region of the MPO and beyond. NH 125, with its connections to the Spaulding Turnpike, US 4, NH 101 and Interstate 495 is quickly becoming a popular route for tourists and commuters. AADTs range from about 12,000 vehicles per day in Brentwood to about 18,000 in Epping, and 14,000 in Rochester. NH 108 serves as an alternate commuter route to the Spaulding Turnpike for those moving between the coastal towns and the northern part of the region. This route has its greatest volume of traffic near the Exeter/Stratham border (22,000), and remains a very busy route from that area north to Newmarket, Durham and Dover. 1 All ADTs listed in this section are based upon 1999-2001 NHDOT counts and use Average Weekday numbers. 2007-2026 Long Range Transportation Plan Strafford MPO Highways 4-3 Map 4.1: Principle Transportation Routes 2007-2026 Long Range Transportation Plan Strafford MPO 4-4 Highways 2. Classification of Roads and Highways Every ten years, NHDOT, working with the regional planning commissions (RPCs), updates the State's functional classification maps for roads. Functional classification is grouping of streets and highways into classes or systems, according to the nature of service they provide. These groupings may be used as a basis for determining jurisdiction, design standards, and allocation of funds. In general, there are four functional classes to be considered: 1) Principal arterial; 2) Minor arterial; 3) Collector and 4) Local street. A brief description of each is contained in Appendix E to assist in the understanding of the basic hierarchy of roadway function by classification. Appendix E also includes a table classifying some of our region’s roads. In addition to the Federal Functional Classification system, New Hampshire has it’s own highway classification system that is based on who is responsible for the maintenance of the roadway. Known as the “Legislative” classification, this structure includes six categories, and was developed in the 1940's. This Legislative classification roughly corresponds to a third scheme, known as the “System” classification which further details the Legislative class into 18 subcategories which state who owns the facility as well as who maintains it. All of this is detailed further in Appendix E, which is available the SRPC office in Dover and on the Strafford MPO website. 3. Traffic Volumes The NHDOT’s Bureau of Transportation Planning Traffic Research Section monitors traffic growth throughout New Hampshire and publishes monthly Automatic Traffic Recorder Reports for 79 locations throughout the state. In addition, NHDOT conducts traffic counts during the summer months at additional locations and will respond to local community requests. There are eight permanent recorder locations in the Strafford MPO study area. Table 4.1 provides a historical look at the Strafford’s permanent recorder traffic volumes for selected years from 1980 to 2001. As can be seen, at most of the recording stations, traffic in the region has been steadily increasing over the last 20-25 years. 2007-2026 Long Range Transportation Plan Strafford MPO Highways 4-5 TABLE 4.1: Traffic Volumes at Region Permanent Recorder Sites 20 Year 10 year 5 Year City or Location of Average Annual Daily Traffic AADT Change Change Change Town Recorder 1980 1990 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 80-00 90-00 96-01 Dover Dover Point Rd - S of Elliot Park 9,985 15,949 14,307 14,014 14,519 13,248 14,669 14,829 14,749 48.51% -7.02% 5.24% Dover Spaulding Turnpike Toll 12,458 24,139 28,829 30,172 30,646 32,382 33,880 35,663 37,231 186.27% 47.74% 23.40% Durham US 4 - East of NH 108 --- 15,330 17,171 17,547 17,647 18,346 19,373 18,951 19,402 --- 23.62% 10.57% Lee NH 125 N of US 4 5,458 10,033 12,135 12,827 13,058 13,465 13,761 13,860 14,175 153.94% 38.14% 10.51% Milton NH 16 @ Wakefield T/L 3,609 6,426 7,048 7,193 7,455 7,523 7,966 8,212 8,586 127.54% 27.79% 19.37% Newington General Sullivan Bridge 30,162 55,267 57,908 62,121 64,055 66,021 69,628 72,753 72,720 141.21% 31.64% 17.06% Northwood US 4 @ Nottingham T/L --- 7,971 8,921 9,099 9,151 9,559 9,804 9,641 9,516 --- 20.95% 4.58% Rochester Spaulding Turnpike Toll 7,278 15,694 18,969 20,023 20,672 21,602 22,656 23,617 24,716 224.50% 50.48% 23.44% AVERAGE 11,492 18,851 20,661 21,625 22,150 22,768 23,967 24,691 25,137 146.99% 29.17% 14.27% 1 Due to non-operating counters in 1999 and 2000, 2001 is used as the final year for the NH 101 station. This means the growth rates are calculated over a longer period for this station, e.g. 11 years as opposed to 10). Table 4.2: Average Annual Growth Rates and Growth Projections at Region Permanent Traffic Recorder Sites 2022 VOLUMES FORECAST Linear BASED ON THE Regression Model AAGR FOR: Baseline AAGR FOR: Based Forecast for City or Location of (2000) 80-2000 90-2000 96-01 80-2000 90-2000 96-01 Forecast (4) 2022 (3) Town Recorder AADT AAGR (2) AAGR (2) AAGR (2) ADT ADT ADT ADT ADT Dover Point Rd - S of Elliot Dover Park 14829 0.019775038 -0.0072811 0.0102237 22814 12627 18548 18807 14589 Spaulding Dover Turnpike Toll 35663 0.052587537 0.0390285 0.0420455 110128 82798 88252 60155 52111 US 4 - East of Durham NH 108 18951 --- 0.0212045 0.0200986 --- 30069 29360 27600 21333 NH 125 N of Lee US 4 13860 0.046596229 0.0323127 0.0199855 37749 27900 21421 23493 15944 NH 16 @ Milton Wakefield T/L 8212 0.041108289 0.0245244 0.0354049 19923 13994 17655 13087 16911 US 4 @ Nottingham Northwood T/L 9641 --- 0.0190215 0.008962 --- 14593 11732 13201 16389 Spaulding Rochester Turnpike Toll 23617 0.058855535 0.0408688 0.0421138 83106 57008 41246 23378 AVERAGE GROWTH 4.38% 2.47% AAGR is the compounded Average Annual Growth Rate over the number of years (20,10, or 5) and is taken from existing traffic volume data.

Load more