Derry Rail Trail redesign is a hotbed of controversy

Jun. 10—The Derry Rail Trail is a hotspot for walkers, runners, commuters, bicyclists, parents wheeling strollers, teens riding scooters and skateboards and people of all ages with walkers or wheelchairs — an estimated 1,000 people a day and more on fair-weather weekends.

It's also a hotbed of controversy.

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation's current redesign for a 1,500-foot section of the trail replaces a plan approved in 2019 for a straight, bike- and people-friendly path that included a box tunnel under a busy road.

Now, trail plans include a twisting, sloping path through a wooded streamside area that has flooded during heavy rain — or the quickest, most direct route, crossing six lanes of commuter traffic on widened Folsom Road, which will become an access road to Exit 4A on Interstate 93.

"In my professional opinion, the convoluted NHDOT 'spaghetti' trail layout is unsafe," Alex Vogt, a retired state DOT highway design engineer and project manager, said in an email last week.

Construction bids are due to DOT by Thursday, and officials said it will take about eight weeks to get documents to the governor and Executive Council for approval.

Trail advocates, who have been fighting an uphill battle against the change for two years, hope the Executive Council will hear their appeal on Wednesday, before the state rubber-stamps it. State and national rail trail alliances have said they will consider legal action to stop the project if necessary.

"We are trying to prevent a huge mistake from being made in Derry," said Dave Topham of Salem, president of the New Hampshire Rail Trail Coalition and a member of the New Hampshire Department of Safety's Traffic Safety Commission.

Rail trail users and the plan's critics say the latest DOT plan fails to meet a greater goal: to create a seamless Granite State Rail Trail that safely links Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire and brings significant revenue to the state through recreation tourism. They fear the Derry Rail Trail's redesign will ramp up accidents and lawsuits.

The state transportation department is not following the criteria required for rail trails, Vogt said, instead using a general rail trail design that is "difficult for many users."

"They are building this according to guidelines for a path in the woods, not as a transportation corridor," Salem's Topham said. "When you pull these elements together you have a totally unworkable plan. They never considered the purpose... They're still not looking at reality."

"NHDOT shoehorned what will fit," said Vogt, including a 12 mph curve, when a rail trail should be designed for 18 mph at every point. "That is poor engineering that creates an unsafe design."

Concerns: Flooding, grade

The DOT changed its original plan after federal highway officials signed off on the original box tunnel design two years ago, said Steve Pearson, a New Hampshire state representative from Derry.

Pearson, a lieutenant in the Manchester Fire Department, believes essential safety issues are being ignored.

A section of the trail has flooded four times, he said, and the angle and length of its slope promotes dangerous acceleration. "If you're a mom with a stroller and lose control at the top, the speed (the stroller) attains at the bottom will kill a child," Pearson said.

"A tunnel under the road would eliminate all potential conflicts with cars. It's simply not a safe design," wrote Jeff Latimer, president of Granite State Rail Trail.

Bicycles will come down a 5% grade then a sudden 90-degree turn into a dark space under a road, said Latimer, who owns a bike shop in North Hampton. "You wouldn't design a road like this," he said.

Officials defend revised plan

Derry Town Administrator Dave Caron said he doesn't have safety concerns with the revised plan.

"It eliminates the need for another significant structure (box tunnel) that has to be maintained. On a simple infrastructure and maintenance basis, the (new) design is economical," he said. "You have to use public facilities in a responsible manner based on conditions. We have bikes, joggers, moms with strollers. Conflicts arise when some folks should be a little more aware of their surroundings."

An Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator reviewed the new design for ADA compliance and found it did not exceed the 5% running slope allowed, and the grade is permitted under accessibility guidelines from the U.S. Forest Service and for public rights of way.

"We are providing a safe, grade separated crossing of the tail at Shields Brook under Folsom Road," the DOT stated by email. "The concerns of the opponents have been, and continue to be heard by many local and federal officials since 2022, and the NH legislature in 2023. All necessary project approvals and final contract documents were issued prior to advertising the project on May 14."

The only design acceptable "is a trail that follows rail trail design criteria and provides a tunnel under the new Folsom Road," said Vogt, the retired DOT engineer. "It is not too late to do the right thing."