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Nashua Downtown Master Plan

allel alternate route to the Main
Street crossing of the Nashua River,
one of the most problematical traffic
“bottlenecks” in the City.

* The proposed Parkway provides a
large increment of new access to the
Millyard district, enabling travel
between the Millyard and the north
side of the Nashua River without

requiring the use of Main Street.

However the Master Plan team
developed an alternative which better
meets the goals of the City and Down-
town.

Although in agreement with the funda-
mental premises of the Broad Street
Parkway, the Master Plan team identified
several challenges with the current
design as proposed:

* Road Type A limited access road is

fundamentally at odds with the char-
acter of Nashua, and indeed with
cities in general. Limited access roads
are most appropriate where mobility
— higher speed travel over longer dis-
tance — is paramount. In contrast, the
primary purpose of arterial streets
within the city is access, i.e. distribu-
tion to as many intersecting streets
and fronting properties as possible,
and the provision of frequent oppor-
tunities for pedestrian crossings. The
limited access feature of the proposed
Broad Street Parkway, therefore, is
fundamentally at odds with the exist-
ing character of Nashua streets, and
with the desired character for new
streets within the system.

* Design Speed The proposed Broad
Street Parkway has a design speed of
40-50 miles per hour. This high

75

(bottom left}

The proposal provides a
bigh-speed link between
Broad Street and the
Millyard, but does little
for regional through-

tr

(bottom right}

The preferred
alternative will provide
access to redevelopment
properties and will
improve congestion at
Railroad Square created
by regional through

te

Exit 6

ny,
5, %
Ye
Se, pe
oe
Broad Street oe

Broad Street
Exit 6

DESIGN ASSOCIATES

design speed is incompatible with the
densely developed urban fabric (or
what should be such fabric) in the
road corridor. Design speeds in the
40-50 miles per hour range are
appropriate for suburban arterials, in
which mobility is the highest consid-
eration. For urban streets for which
access and urban street values are the
primary consideration, design speeds
of around half this amount (i.e., 25 to
30 miles-per-hour) are more appro-

priate.

Number of Lanes Four through
lanes of traffic, as proposed in the
current Broad Street Parkway design,
are far in excess of any need likely to
be generated by even the most opti-
mistic of downtown growth scenar-
ios. A two-lane roadway (one lane in
each direction) is, on the other hand,
fully adequate for all reasonable pro-
jections of downtown growth. For
example, a two-lane roadway would
accommodate downtown growth of
1.25 million square feet of new shop-
ping, or 1.74 million square feet of
new office, or 6,200 new downtown
dwelling units. These supportable
growths, or combinations of them,
are greatly in excess of any downtown
growth projections.

A cross section with four through
lanes translates to a cross section of
six lanes at most intersections, and
seven lanes at the “worst case” at
Ledge Street. Intersection widths of

this type are not only visually blight-

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

Diagnosis 76
(sop)

Traffic from Exits 6

and 7 is funnelled

through a dog-leg at
Railroad Square and a

single Merrimack

River crossing on East

Flollis Street.

Current Broad
Street Parkway
Proposal

(middle)

Proposed roadway
serves only Exit 6

ic to the Millyard.

Much traffic is still
funneled through
Railroad Square and
the single Merrimack

River crossing.

Alternative Pro-
posal Broad Street
Parkway

(bottom)

Exit 7 traffic takes the
Henri A, Burque
Highway across the
Merrimack River on a
new bridge. Exit 6
traffic crosses Railroad
Square in a “through

movement.”

UREAN

Broad Street Park-
way: “An armature
for everything”
Hf designed well, the
road can provide (A)
access to redevelopment
parcels, (B) connections
to a regional trail
system, (C) an
extension of a local trail
system, and (D}
improvements to signal
operations at Railroad

Square,

DESIGN ASSOCIATES

ing and out of character with the
City of Nashua, but they are ineffi-
cient for traffic operations, and hos-
tile to pedestrian and bicycle travel.
Lack of Address Value The pro-
posed limited access feature on the
proposed Parkway design means that
fronting properties cannot have an
“address” on the Parkway. At best,
properties can appear to front on the
Parkway, but must be reached from
side streets or parallel “frontage
roads.” The proposed limited access
feature of the Parkway, therefore, will
prevent the Parkway from ever
becoming an “armature” of develop-

ment in Nashua. Failure to realize

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

this potential is particularly disap-
pointing, given the currently unde-
veloped state of two prime
developable areas through which the
corridor passes: (1) the Millyard
south of the Nashua River and (2)
the currently undeveloped land on
the south side of the corridor near its

western terminus at Broad Street.

Lack of East/West Street
Connection Although the proposed
Broad Street Parkway design accom-
plishes the all-important north/south
connection across the Nashua River,
it does little to provide an additional
east/west connection on the north

side of the River. Such a connection

Greeley Parl

= Mai
sds Stre

ARs

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

would be highly valuable in redirect-
ing east/west traffic now on Amherst
Street through Railroad Square to
other locations (most obviously, to
Franklin Street, thereby crossing
Main Street away from Railroad
Square).

Lack of Local Street Connections
To the south of the Nashua River
(ie., in the Millyard and in the Hol-
lis Street area), the Parkway termi-
nates in a dense network of small
local streets or street-like spaces in
the Millyard and the Tree Streets
Neighborhood. Rather than weaving
the Parkway into these streets, how-
ever, the proposed design obliterates
them, connecting only at one existing
street (Ledge Street) with a seven-
lane cross section, and at a large new
single intersection (five lane

approaches) in the Millyard.

Through Trips Although a stated
purpose of the proposed Broad Street
Parkway is the relief of through traf-
fic (i.e., traffic with neither origin nor
destination in Nashua), the road as
configured does not offer an impres-
sive source of relief. The major
through movements within Nashua
are not fundamentally north/south
movements, but rather east/west
movements, primarily between inter-
changes 5, 6 and 7 of the Everett
‘Turnpike and the single crossing
(Hollis Street) of the Merrimack
River. The currently proposed con-

figuration of the Broad Street Park-

way rearranges some of these move-
ments, particularly the movements
between Everett Turnpike inter-
changes 6 and 7 and the Hollis Street
crossing of the Merrimack River. The
proposed Parkway will permit the
rerouting of these movements (or
some of them) away from the con-
gested multi-leg intersection at Rail-
road Square, and redirect them
toward the new north/south river
crossing and then onto Hollis Street
and Kinsley Street. This rerouting of
traffic, however, may not have a large
benefit, since the same volume of
east/west traffic would still appear at
the critical bottleneck location at the
Hollis Street crossing of the Merri-

mack River.

Cost The cost of the proposed Board
Street Parkway ($60 million) is
extravagant and out of scale. Almost
all of the major street network (arte-
rial and collector street) within
Nashua is in need of major expendi-
ture for preservation and upgrading.
Reducing the scope of the proposed
Broad Street Parkway and redirecting
the “savings” in funds to other
needed projects throughout the City
would, in all likelihood, yield a far
greater level of return per dollar
expended.

Land Consumption The sweeping
curves, dictated by the higher design
speed of the proposed Parkway, con-
sume large amounts of land for the

roadway footprint itself, and further

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

render a number of land parcels into
unusable fragments. Such land
gained in excess of real footprint is
not suitable for other uses, such as
park land or an adjacent trail. The
intersections (particularly at Ledge
Street, with its seven-lane approach)
are notably larger than anything now
existing on any surface street within
the City of Nashua.

* Neighborhood Impact The pro-
posed Broad Street Parkway design
terminates in the Tree Streets neigh-
borhood. More accurately, it obliter-
ates a good part of a neighborhood

by terminating there.

* Unimodal The proposed design is
heavily oriented toward moving the
maximum possible volume of vehi-
cles, at the highest reasonable speed.
‘Travel by other modes — bicycling
and walking — do not appear to be a
serious consideration in the design.
The design does not appear to inte-
grate the regional walking and bicy-
cling system, despite the fact that the
new design constitutes a major
acquisition of new land and provides

a new river crossing.

The Master Plan team, in realization of
the challenges associated with the cur-
rently proposed Broad Street Parkway,
proposes the following modifications to
the plan:

* Road Type In contrast to the cur-

rently proposed limited access road, 79
the master plan recommends a con-
trolled access street. On such a street,
high-value fronting properties are
encouraged, and are given vehicular
access under controlled conditions
(carefully planned driveway spacing,
rear alley connections, etc.). Rather
than minimizing the number of
intersections, the preferred alterna-
tive would seek to maximize intersec-
tions. Specifically, to the south of the
Nashua River, the preferred alterna-
tive would be carefully woven into
the fabric of five or six local streets,
rather than obliterating them and

imposing a new single intersection.

Design Speed The preferred Broad
Street Parkway has a design speed of
25-30 miles per hour, appropriate for
a new arterial street in an urban area.
The lower design speed permits more
compact geometric design of the
street, smaller intersections, reduced
sight distance requirements, makes
on-street parking more feasible,
greatly improves the pedestrian
atmosphere, permits plantings and
street furniture to be placed closer to
the street, and generally reflects the
desirable traits of existing streets in
Nashua.

Number of Lanes The preferred
alternative should have two through
Janes (i.e., a single through lane in
each direction). At intersections, a
third left-turn lane should be pro-
vided. Right-turn auxiliary lanes

UREAN

DESIGN ASSOCIATES

should not be provided. A two-lane
roadway provides an increment of
capacity that is far more than ade-
quate for any reasonable projection of
new downtown growth in Nashua.

+ Address Value The design features
of the preferred Parkway — specifi-
cally its accessibility, design speed
and size — should add to the value of

the road as an address. Supporting

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

City policies (zoning, redevelopment Bo
initiatives, etc.) should foster the role

of the road as an armature for new

development.

East/West Street Connection to

Franklin Street A major advantage

of the preferred alternative over the

currently standing Broad Street pro-

posal is the connection to Franklin

Street on the north side of the

Ley
bp

Broad Street
Parkway

The preferred
alternative for the
Broad Street Parkway
(left) will provide access
to redevelopment
opportunities, as well as
reduce congestion at

Railroad Square.

Recommended cross-
section (section A-A}

(top left)

Recommended cross-

section of Parkway at

the new bridge (section

B-B} (top right)

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

Nashua River. This connection cre-
ates a new east/west route parallel to
Broad Street and Amherst Street,
and permits east/west through traffic
(from Everett Turnpike interchanges
6 and 7 to the Hollis Street/Merri-
mack River crossing) to divert from
Broad Street and Amherst Street, to
use Franklin Street and Canal Street
instead, and thereby avoid the major
congestion at the multi-leg intersec-
tion at Railroad Square. Although
the currently proposed Parkway
could redirect some of this same
through movement southward across
the new Nashua River crossing
(thereby evading the Railroad Square
location), the current plan does not
create a new east/west connection,
but simply adds the redirected
through traffic to the already high
volumes on Hollis Street and Kinsley
Street.

Local Street Connections The pre-
ferred alternative, rather than obliter-
ating street connections in the
Millyard and Tree Streets neighbor-
hood, will create a fabric of new con-
nections and small streets. The
preferred alternative will have far less
impact on local streets than the cur-
rently standing proposal, because: (1)
it will deliver only a single lane of
traffic across the Nashua River in
each direction and (2) it will disperse
its traffic to a number of local street
connections, rather than focusing

onto a single new large intersection

at Ledge Street. 81
Land Consumption The preferred
alternative will consume far less land
than the currently proposed Broad
Street Parkway. The controlled access
feature (as contrasted to the limited
access feature of the current pro-
posal) will require the taking of fewer
properties, since fronting property
value will be increased, not obliter-
ated, by the road. The more compact
geometric design of the road, mani-
fested in low design speeds, small
frequent intersections, and two-lane
cross section, will greatly reduce the
land needed for the road footprint
itself. Rather than obliterating much
of the neighborhood land at the
southern terminus, the preferred
design would restore this land to

dense urban uses.

Cost The compact right-of-way,
two-lane cross section and lack of
limited-access purchases will yield a
preferred Broad Street alternative
that is most likely a fraction of the
cost of the currently proposed alter-
native. Some individual elements of
the cost savings are likely to be spec-
tacular. For example, the structure for
the crossing of the Nashua River,
some 1,100 feet in length (4 lanes)
under the currently proposed plan,
would be less than 200 feet (2 lanes)
under the preferred alternative.
Neighborhood Impact An impor-

tant principle of the preferred alter-

native is the restoration of

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

neighborhoods, and creation of new
neighborhood fabric, particularly at
the southern end of the Parkway. The
preferred alternative does this
through a downsized street, the
adoption of urban street design
guidelines, and the connection to the
existing street system at numerous

points.

+ Multi-Modal The preferred design is
multi-modal, providing connections
to the regional trail system and

extension of the local trail system.

A Broad Street Parkway - either the cur-
rently proposed version or the preferred
alternative from this Master Plan - is not
the answer to through traffic in down-
town Nashua. Far more important than
the Broad Street Parkway, in any of its
versions, is the extension of the Henri A.
Burque Highway with another crossing
of the Merrimack River.

As part of the original circumferen-
tial connector, the Henri A. Burque
Highway was designed to provide a
“beltway” around downtown. As is often
the case with large road projects, the
planning process was slower than private
development. As a result, intense devel-
opment occurred in the corridor and the
right-of-way. In the 1990's, the idea of
extending the Henri A. Burque was
“shelved" in favor of a new alignment for
the circumferential connector several

miles to the north on more easily

acquired greenfield land. 82
Extending the Henri A. Burque was

valid many years ago. Today it is still

valid, albeit highly unlikely and infeasi-

ble.

Highway to Hudson will allow traffic

Extending the Henri A. Burque

generated from Everett Turnpike inter-
change 6 (Broad Street) and interchange
7 (Amherst Street) destined east to Hud-
son to do so without traversing Amherst
and Canal Streets, and most importantly
avoiding Railroad Square and the Hollis
Street bridge.

Extension of the Henri A. Burque
highway is not likely. Acquisition costs
in the foreseeable future are prohibitive.
Likewise, NHDOT is in the process of
issuing an SEIS on the Circumferential
Highway several miles north of the
Henri A. Burque However, should con-
ditions in the corridor change such that
the extension of the highway becomes,
once again feasible, Nashua should pur-

sue this option.

If the City decides to pursue the basic
alignment of the current Broad Street
Parkway proposal, the following recom-
mendations are made to assure this
alignment best serves both downtown
and the region.

The Parkway should be true to its
name and be designed as a 25-30 mile-
per-hour, two lane road, not a 45-50
mile-per-hour, limited access highway as

it has been designed as and conceived of.

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

A two-lane cross-section will reduce the
cost of the roadway significantly yet will
not reduce its effectiveness.

The Parkway should incorporate trail
elements that substantially implement
the City's Master Plan for trails and
greenways.

All efforts should be made to pre-
serve and protect the Tree Streets Neigh-
borhood, located at the road's southern
terminus. The greatest impacts will likely

occur on Elm Street between Hollis and

Kinsley, now a small residential street, 83
where the roadway will force all regional
traffic to converge.

The Broad Street Parkway proposal
will require traffic modeling in order to
confirm the strategic assumptions and
decisions. It is important to note that
traffic modeling, by itself, should not be
considered a litmus test for good (or bad)
transportation proposals. Rather they
should be used as a tool to help evaluate

proposals.

UR EAN DESIGN assocrates Nashua Downtown Master Plan

Il Trails A FRAMEWORK OF TRAILS is as important to Nashua as a new 84
framework of streets. People will choose to move to and invest
in Nashua because of a package of amenities — not simply
because it is affordable or proximate to employment opportu-
nities. Creating a well-developed, well-connected park and trail
system will contribute to Nashua’s quality of life and make
Downtown an integral part of the lives of all Nashua residents,
as well as other residents of the region. Its natural assets will
attract homebuyers and visitors searching for a connected and
public life. Investments in trails will:

* provide recreational outlets for both residents and visitors

to Nashua

* weave together important places in the City for individuals

and families on bike or on foot

provide an alternate means of commuting to Downtown

be a draw for tourists as a connection between the abun-

dant heritage resources Nashua has to offer

provide improved air quality by offering access to the City

without the automobile

Loops and
Connections

The new Downtown
riverftont park will
connect into the larger
regional open space
system, linking Mine
Falls Park to the
Merrimack River and
other Downtown open
Space amenities. Dotted
red lines indicate on-
street bikeways. Solid
red lines indicate paths

and trails,

<n ‘ a \ ([suttivan Park

Salmon G \ Lan Lyons Field