State sticking with requirement for chain-link fencing separating new recreation trails from railroad tracks

Local community leaders who are working to create a walking/biking recreational trail system that will run from Franklin to Meredith were disappointed last week to learn that their request for the N.H. Department of Transportation's (DOT) to ease up on its requirement to have expensive chain-link fencing alongside the trail has been rejected.

Ron Mitchell, who head this town's Belmont Recreational Alternative Transportation Team (BRATT), said he'd received a letter late last week from DOT Commissioner George Campbell saying the agency has already set the safety guidelines for the project and they include putting up the chain-link fence along most of the trail.

Mitchell admitted to be disappointed. "Especially considering how I hate the way that fence looks now on Route 3 (near the Belmont-Laconia border)," he said, referring to the only area of the trail that already has the fence erected. "I hate to see miles and miles of chain-link fence. But it sounds like there's not much chance for it to change."

The DOT has the authority to require the fence because the trail is running along the state-owned railroad right-of-way. Officials say they're concerned that if an accident occurred involving a train using the tracks — such as the Hobo/Winnipesuakee Scenic Railroad company — and someone using the trails, there could be costly insurance issues.

Mitchell and his counterparts in other communities including Laconia, Northfield, Tilton and Franklin say they understand the DOT's concerns but at a meeting with Campbell and his staff in September they argued that the same safety goals could be made with less intrusive — and more attractive — alternatives, such as split-rail fences.

On Sunday, Mitchell said the "trail bosses" may win that argument on a case-by-case basis as the trail develops and plans for specific areas are okayed by DOT planning officials, but the agency is not altering its basic guidelines. "He (Campbell) basically said they've set up their safety standards and they're going to stick to them."

Mitchell said he had hoped that issues voiced by a national conservation group that the chain-link fence would create problems for wildlife used to using the "corridors" along the railroad bed would sway the DOT leaders, but they apparently did not.

However in previous discussions with Kip Morgan, the DOT official in charge of railroad lines, the trail groups were given permission to keep the chain-link fence six-inches off the ground and to include some "break" that should allow wildlife to continue accessing the areas.

The trail project is unique in that it is to be scheduled to be funded using a federal grant which requires each of the local municipalities to put up 20-percent of their local trail construction costs; the state would supply the remaining 80-percent from the federal alternative-transportation grant.

The fence issue has become a major problem for the local communities because it's considerably adding to the local construction and insurance costs.