The Town of Hanson faced safety deficiencies along the Maquan Street (Route 14) corridor. Lacking proper multi-modal accommodations, the curved hilly roadway lacked sidewalks and bicycle accommodations, posing a safety concern for the few who braved to walk or bike on it. Given the connection that the roadway provides between residential neighborhoods and town recreation, fatal crashes had taken place along the roadway. Further, excessive flooding was also experienced along the corridor during high storm events. Environmental Partners (EP) was selected by the Town of Hanson in June 2016 to assist with the Maquan Street Reconstruction project.
The on-going project includes improvements to traffic circulation and safety, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and roadway flooding along Maquan Street from Liberty Street (Route 58) and Indian Head Street to the Pembroke Town Line, a distance of approximately 1.2 miles. It also includes the reconstruction of School Street (approximately 0.25 miles long) to link pedestrian and bicycle accommodations from the existing Indian Head School, Maquan Elementary School, Hanson Public Library, and sports fields with Maquan Street and several abutting neighborhoods, providing ample accommodations between residential neighborhoods and the nearby schools and parks. The project will also connect to the Route 14 project in Pembroke, extending bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.
Starting with the conceptual design phase, EP assisted the community through the TIP funding process and performed extensive public outreach. The selected alternative was a result of several public meetings, and includes a shared use path to provide safe and comfortable accommodations for both pedestrians and bicycles out of the roadway to encourage alternative modes of transportation despite the challenging topography. Work also includes alterations to roadway alignment to improve substandard sight distance and drainage accommodations to address the experienced flooding. The project is estimated to be advertised for construction in December 2022.
The introduction of a shared use path will transform the east side of Hanson, providing pedestrian and bicycle connections between several neighborhoods, schools, sports fields, and camps, creating comfortable accommodations and encouraging use. Safe crossings to adjacent neighborhoods and a proposed park on Town-owned land protruding into Maquan Pond alongside the shared use path providing scenic vistas, will further increase and encourage usage by the community.
