Project to bring connections, improved walkability to Manch
RAISE Manchester is a $30 million transportation infrastructure project in Manchester funded in part by a $25 million federal RAISE grant. Kristen Clarke, project manager and Manchester Department of Public Works traffic engineer, discussed the project following a public informational meeting held for residents and business owners. Visit raisemanchester.org.
How long has RAISE Manchester been in the works?
The first time we applied for the grant was in 2019. There were some planning efforts that happened leading up to that as well. We applied for the grant in 2019 and 2020 and were not successful and then won the grant in 2021.
What are RAISE grants awarded for?
The grant is [awarded] through the U.S. DOT. RAISE stands for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity. There are several key items that they’re looking for, which are how we’re improving mobility and congestion and how we’re creating new development opportunities using infrastructure.
What are the elements of the project?
There are four different elements of the grant that are all semi-interconnected. First, there’s the Granite Street and Commercial Street intersection, where we’re going to be building a pedestrian bridge over Granite Street. Then, where South Commercial Street currently dead-ends by the Fisher Cats ballpark, we’re going to be building a bridge over the active rail line that will connect over to Elm Street at Gas Street. Then we’re going to be building a rail trail on the abandoned rail trail corridor from Queen City Avenue up to that Elm and Gas Street intersection. The last piece is the reconfiguration of the South Willow Street and Queen City Avenue intersection from a signalized intersection into a peanut-shaped roundabout.
What are some of the problems that RAISE Manchester aims to address?
The biggest things are we’re looking at how to reconnect the south Millyard area back over to Elm Street across the rail line in hopes that it’ll help spur some redevelopment and extend downtown south of Granite Street. We’re also looking at [improving] safety and traffic congestion by providing alternative ways in and out of downtown.
How are you able to predict what changes will make the biggest impact?
Part of it is looking at where the bottlenecks are happening today. We know that, getting into the city on the Granite Street quarter, there’s a lot of congestion, especially if there’s a ballgame or an event at the SNHU Arena or if a train is coming through there. So that’s where we started looking at where we could create more options.
How much of this plan is confirmed and how much is still developing?
The four elements as presented in the grant application are required to be complete; they have to be done in some fashion based on the stipulations of the grant. The width of the road or the exact alignment of it can change, and that part is still not set in stone. We are in the preliminary design phase right now, which we’re hoping to wrap up over the next couple of months. Then, the final design phase will go on for about another year.
What does that design process look like?
There are three bridges that are part of this project, so a big piece of the design is actually doing all the structural analysis to design the bridges. That’s what takes the longest of all of it.
What is the timeline?
All in all, we have to be ready for all the design to be done by September 2024, and all construction must be completed by September 2029. We’re not sure about the [order of the] stages and which would happen first. A contractor might choose to do multiple of them at the same time. We can’t know yet.
What was the response at the public meeting?
Overall, the response was positive, and people were excited. They wondered how we’ve gone this long without a lot of these projects in place. We did get some great comments from the bike and pedestrian communities on different things that we should explore to see if there were better ways to accommodate bikes and pedestrians. … We’re really excited about it. If people have ideas, we’re happy for them to share their comments through our website, raisemanchester.org, or get in touch with us. We want to make sure that if there’s something someone wants to see, and there’s a way that we can accommodate it, we look into it.
Featured photo: The biggest part of RAISE Manchester will be a new South Commercial Street Extension. Courtesy photo.
