The present beckons

Friday, October 30, 2009

Anyone who drives Route 101 through Bedford knows that Town Councilor Bill Dermody hit the nail on the head last week when he said: “It’s a 1950s road trying to serve 2010 and beyond.”

It certainly is, and because of that, local officials are hoping to get that stretch of road back onto the Department of Transportation’s 10-year road plan. Good luck.

Route 101 in Bedford was removed from the $2 billion plan in 2008 after wallowing on the list for several years. The good news, if this could be considered good news, is that it is listed as the number one priority on the deferred projects list.

The problem facing Bedford is the problem facing a lot of New Hampshire towns bisected by relatively small state highways: Everybody wants – needs – something done to improve them. But the state always has bigger fish to fry – Interstate 93, for instance.

And there are always emergency situations cropping up, things that absolutely, positively must be done right now or terrible things could happen.

And that’s true.

The problem is, nothing really awful has happened in Bedford as a result of problems with Route 101. Certainly there is a lot of congestion at certain times of the day, but one could fairly look at the situation and deem it to be ... well, certainly not devoid of all danger, but certainly not something that absolutely positively must be done right now or terrible things will happen.

There is no doubt that using the road, and especially trying to cross it at certain points, is a flaming pain and it would be wonderful if it could get back upon the 10-year plan. All would be better for Bedford.

And it’s nice to be number one on the wait list, but we’re simply going to have to wait and see if that means anything in the long run.

Meanwhile, it is good that town officials are putting on a bit of pressure. It can’t hurt.