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.
