City leaders promise less disruptive road repairs next year

LACONIA — Mayor Ed Engler and City Manager Scott Myers said Monday night they have taken to heart complaints about road construction projects that have inconvenienced motorists, enraged business owners and frustrated residents this year.

They promised things will be better next construction season.

Court Street, Union Avenue, and Messer Street have undergone major repairs, including time-consuming underground work on water, sewer, and gas utilities. Some businesses in the work zones say customer numbers are down.

Last week, Peter Morrissette spraypainted his complaints on plywood sheets near his Lakes Region Party & Gift store at 292 Court St., saying “Liberty Utilities You Suck You Killed Us” and “City Laconia You Killed Us.”

At the City Council meeting, Engler acknowledged just how frustrating it has been for people when work is done on multiple main roads at the same time.

“These projects this summer have caused a lot more inconvenience to people than we ever would have imagined and there is a fair amount of discontent out there in the public — not only the impact we’ve had on the traveling public but more specifically and more harmfully on people trying to conduct business from their normal stores,” he said.

“I just want to say tonight, on behalf of myself, that I take responsibility for that. I believe we should have done a better job in terms of appreciating the scope of work that we undertook this year and how big of a discombobulation it was going to cause to a bunch of people.”

He said the city should have done a better job of phasing the construction and should have made a better effort to protect businesses from disruption.

Engler, who is not running for re-election and won’t be in office next year, said that, after conversations with councilors and city staff, he’s confident things will be handled better next construction season.

City Manager Myers seconded the mayor’s comments.

“We have heard the concerns and we’ve taken them to heart,” he said.

Next season’s work is to include a Court Street bridge over Durkee Brook, and work on Union Avenue between Gilford Avenue and Spring Street and from Walnut Street to Stark Street.

Councilor Bob Hamel suggested that the Union Avenue work from Gilford Avenue to Spring Street should be postponed.

Myers indicated he was amenable to Hamel's suggestions and said he’d get back to the council with a rough plan for staging next year’s work.

“This council within the last three years has provided over $10 million in funding for road repair,” Hamel said. “It doesn’t mean it all has to be done in one summer. That’s the point.”

Hamel also said contractors need to do a better job of making sure the surface of a road is suitable for travel during construction.

This has not always been the case on Court Street.

“You could drive on the Moon and have better conditions than were out there the last couple days,” he said.

Councilor Henry Lipman said other things that could be considered include scheduling work outside of normal business hours.

In an interview Tuesday, Public Works Director Wes Anderson said maintenance has been deferred for many years, and that makes road projects more complicated.

“Because we haven’t done things in quite a while, there was a lot of underground work to be done,” he said. “We had pipe that was 100 years old and had to be replaced. There’s nothing as bad as fixing a road and then have a pipe break underneath and you have to fix it again.”