Signs of spring: Road work and traffic backups

LACONIA — Road construction at the Union Avenue-Elm Street intersection was backing up traffic a half-mile to the north on Friday when it happened.

Katherine Pearson’s red Subaru edged forward in heavy traffic. She glanced to see why her 15-month-old son, Lucas, was whining.

When she looked back at the road, traffic had halted and her car ran into the back of Deb Henry’s green SUV.

The women pulled into the parking lot of Autofinders to survey the damage. Nobody was hurt.

Henry’s SUV appeared unharmed. The hood of Pearson’s Subaru was tweaked.

“Well, I don’t have a problem because my car is old and nothing fell off,” Henry said. “If you’re good, I’m good.

“All you did was shake up all that rust. Oh lordy have mercy, I’ve been thinking of getting another car.”

Chunks of corroded metal fell to the ground as she slapped her rear bumper.

“My dad can fix mine,” Pearson said.

The women agreed that traffic in the area has been unusually heavy as road repair work continues.

“It’s horrible, horrible. It’s been going on way too long,” said Henry, whose plan for taking a back street to avoid the traffic jam didn’t work.

“I tried to go the back way and then cut across over at Fratello’s. No do.

"They had it blocked off. And I’m meeting a friend at the O (Steaks & Seafood) for lunch and I’m like, ‘I hope I can get over the bridge.’”

The project has been underway for several weeks. Work on this and the Court Street project will halt the middle part of next week for the duration of Motorcycle Week, which runs June 8-16.

Public Works Director Wes Anderson said the projects will be “buttoned up” in hopes of easing traffic during the yearly rally.

“We try to open up the road as much as we can to make the traffic go by,” he said. “We also try to take care of things that could be hazards. We may patch in an area just to cover the road while the projects are closed.”

Public Works employees often hear from the public during road work.

“We’ve been getting people concerned about the project interfering with traffic, and others who say how well it’s going and looking forward to the final result,” he said.

“It’s nice to hear from people congratulating you, but it’s the nature of the business that at some point someone is going to be mad at us because we’re trying to improve the situation. It’s tough to please everybody.”