If you're used to driving to New Hampshire from upper Hilldale Avenue in Haverhill, you have to find a different route during the day. If you take that route at night, be prepared for a rough ride.
The city is installing a sewer line in the area, forcing the closure of the road between Haverhill and Atkinson weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., while workers dig trenches.
Upper Hilldale Avenue, popular among Southern New Hampshire residents who want to avoid busy Route 125, is open at night, but the driving is rough because of steel covers on top of trenches.
During the day, signs detour drivers. That leaves them heading for Route 125, which is known for its heavy traffic and bottlenecks.
Installation of the sewer line along upper Hilldale Avenue, from Fondi Road to the New Hampshire line, began last month and won't be completed until early spring. Haverhill is in the final phase of a two-year project to extend sewer and water service to the Hilldale Avenue Business Park. City officials hope the improved utility services will help expand the tax base by attracting new businesses and bringing more jobs to Haverhill.
Evening commuters will encounter a rough ride until the road can be widened and repaved later in the year.
Water/Wastewater Director Robert Ward said the project began in 2007 after the city was awarded a $1 million state grant. The grant is intended to encourage business expansion and job growth by helping communities pay for infrastructure improvements.
"We're trying to get it done quickly," Ward said, explaining that no matter what time of year road work takes place it can be disruptive. He said the contractor hired to do the work compacts the road surface at the end of each workday to make traveling as smooth as possible.
"When the project is complete the road will be reconstructed, repaved, widened and realigned so that it matches the newer section of Hilldale between Rosemont Street and Fondi Road."
The first phase of the project, which was completed last summer, brought 4,500 feet of sewer line up Hilldale Avenue from just north of Rosemont Street to Fondi Road, the entrance to the business park. A sewer pumping station was built on Fondi Road as well.
The city applied for grant money in partnership with four businesses in the park: Pella Windows and Doors, Architectural Concrete Concepts, WBC Extrusion Products and SAFC Epichem.
"Those companies will all be able to tie into the upgraded utility lines, which will enable them to grow their businesses," said William Pillsbury, economic development and planning director for the city. "And equally important is the opportunity to use these new undeveloped greenfields sites to attract and recruit new businesses and jobs."
Ward said $1.8 million in additional state grant money is paying for the final phase of the project, which will bring 2,500 feet of both water and sewer lines from Fondi Road to the New Hampshire border, where the business park ends. He said work began in November, after the construction bidding process, funding and project designs were finalized.
"The sooner we get it done the sooner we can get businesses up there," Ward said.
Pillsbury said adequate water and sewer service is attractive to businesses looking to come to Haverhill.
"This places us on a higher level of competition with surrounding industrial opportunities," Pillsbury said. "There are companies that won't even look at sites unless there is water and sewer."
He said the utility expansion also helps businesses that are in the park be more competitive and efficient and in a better position to create more jobs, something Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini called for in his inauguration speech on Monday.
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