detour in downtown Rochester

Motorists heading into Rochester from the south will be diverted along a 2.5-mile detour for the next six months. Crews will be conducting roadwork from Rochester Hill Road at the intersection with Crockett Street, in front of Frisbee Memorial Hospital, to South Main Street at the intersection with Columbus Avenue. The detour is necessitated by rehabilitation work to an old brick culvert that carries water from Willow Brook under South Main Street, near Benedict’s Grill.

“The timeframe for the road closure aspect will take six months,” said city engineer Tom Willis. “The entirety of the project will take a year and a half, with a winter shutdown through this coming winter.”

The detour will divert motorists heading north on Rochester Hill Road onto Whitehall Road, then Chamberlin and Franklin streets, before reconnecting with South Main Street. Depending on traffic, the detour will likely tack an extra 10 minutes to a trip into the Lilac City, Willis said.

Commuters hoping to avoid the detour can enter Rochester via Old Dover Road, or by taking the Spaulding Turnpike to exits 12 or 13, Willis noted. He stressed that drivers will still be able to access the handful of businesses located within the detour zone.

“We are doing all that we can to inform customers that they’ll be able to access those businesses from both directions,” he said.

The road project, which also includes significant sewer and water work in the area, is already underway, and Willis expected the detour to be in place by the end of last week. “Once the detour is in place, the contractors will begin working in earnest,” he said.

The city will place a sign at the beginning of the detour to let drivers know they can access the businesses, and a temporary traffic light will be erected to allow emergency vehicles to transit the area, Willis noted.

Ingram leaves Portsmouth Chamber for Housing Partnership

Affordable housing has become one of the most important issues facing Portsmouth. The Housing Partnership—a nonprofit organization on the front lines of developing more affordable housing—recently announced the selection of Dick Ingram as its new executive director. Ingram leaves his post as president of the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce to address a problem with which he is already quite familiar.

“Workforce housing has been an issue at the top of the list of the chamber since before I got here. It’s really an issue that is critical to the future health of our community,” Ingram said. He has been on the Housing Partnership’s Board of Directors for two years and starts as the executive director on July 16. Former director Bryan Wyatt resigned in early June for personal reasons.

Ingram has developed a strong reputation for relationship building, a skill he believes will be very helpful at the Housing Partnership. The biggest challenge posed by the new position is “striking a balance between all the constituencies and looking for common ground to get something done,” Ingram said.
He also plans to use the financial management skills he developed during 20 years working for several national financial services firms. Ingram said he’s “looking forward to using those muscles again.”

Ingram also has a personal investment in affordable housing. His youngest son is a junior in college and hopes to one day return home and become a high school teacher. “I want to make sure young people like him have a place to live. My family has been in the area since Hampton was founded in 1600, and I don’t want my kids to be the first generation that can’t afford to live here,” Ingram said.

red tide halts shellfish harvesting on the Seacoast

Blue mussels recently collected from the Isles of Shoals and the Hampton-Seabrook Harbor have tested positive for elevated levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning, commonly known as “red tide.” The N.H. Department of Environmental Services and the N.H. Fish and Game Department last week closed all of the state’s Atlantic coastal waters to the harvesting of shellfish until further notice.

Red tide afflicts filter-feeding shellfish such as oysters, clams and muscles, causing them to accumulate a potent neurotoxin that can be fatal to humans if ingested. Cooking contaminated shellfish does not make them safe to eat, according to a statement on the Fish and Game Department’s Web site.

“The nature of red tide blooms vary from year to year, and it is too soon to know how severe this one will be, or how long it might last,” DES shellfish program manager Chris Nash said in the statement. “Toxicity levels are increasing right now. Sampling over the next few weeks will tell us if the effects of the algae bloom are intensifying or not.”

Low levels of the toxin were detected along Seacoast beaches last summer, and 2005 saw the most widespread and severe red tide event on record. This year, harvesting areas along the shoreline have been closed since June 7 due to high bacteria levels caused by heavy rainfall. The offshore bloom of marine algae that causes red tide has been affecting the area ever since.

For updates on the status of shellfish waters, call the Clam Flat Hotline at 1-800-43-CLAMS, or visit www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Fishing/clam_flat_status.htm. Symptoms of red tide poisoning include tingling, burning, numbness, drowsiness, incoherent speech, and respiratory paralysis, which can last for several days. Severe cases can cause death by respiratory arrest within 24 hours.

New Hampshire colleges pledge to go green

The presidents of all four state universities in New Hampshire recently pledged to step up their efforts toward energy efficiency. The University of New Hampshire, Plymouth State University, Keene State College and Granite State College have all signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, joining nearly 300 universities across the nation.

University System of New Hampshire announced its new commitment on June 15, making New Hampshire one of the first states in the country to have all of its university presidents sign the pledge. The commitment demands that each school create an inventory of all its greenhouse gas emissions and develop a plan for reducing those emissions. Within two years, schools must have a target date in place for achieving “climate neutrality,” and actions toward that end must be included as part of the education experience of students.

New Hampshire campuses are already developing plans for the use of electric vehicles, biodeisel and landfill methane gas. UNH has a greenhouse gas emissions inventory tool that has been adopted by more that 200 colleges and universities throughout the United States. A comprehensive Climate Education Initiative brings conscientious energy practices into UNH classrooms and laboratories.

“By becoming one of the first state systems of higher education to sign this commitment, we are demonstrating our strong interest in making this an even higher institutional priority,” USNH Chancellor Stephen Reno said in a statement. The full text of the Climate Commitment is available at www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org.