WINDHAM — Old stone walls will be pushed and tall established trees cut to widen London Bridge Road at the Castle Hill Road end, clearing a swath for two-way bus travel by Sept. 1, and the opening of the new high school.
Work on the curvy half-mile section, scheduled to start next week, has some of the road's residents concerned, surprised and, at least one of them, upset.
Selectmen on Monday voted, 4-0, to spend $263,000 in budgeted road maintenance funds for improvements to the half-mile section, as well as to Marblehead Road.
That part of London Bridge Road has been scheduled to receive improvements — not explicitly widening, but improvements — for two years, Assistant Town Manager Dana Call said.
Selectmen approved the work for this year so it coincides with access road construction, and supports safe travel to and from the high school, especially when buses roll in each direction.
By fall, London Bridge Road will run more than two miles from Route 111 to Castle Hill Road. The access road sits in the middle section and connects to existing paved road at both its ends.
Susan Bullock of 17 London Bridge Road, who has a horse and stable in her back yard, lives right at the juncture of the middle section and the existing road.
She views the widening as continued disregard for residents.
"They are making a throughway," she said. "This road was bucolic."
The project as a whole sits poorly with her, and she thinks selectmen have shown disregard for residents by pushing the project without a vote from the public.
Selectman Ross McLeod said it is important to separate out earlier actions related to the road from the current widening, which he says will enhance road safety. The road will be widened to 28 feet — 24 feet of pavement and 4 feet of shoulder.
McLeod also said it's important the town highway agent meet with residents of the road, explain the project and listen to their concerns.
Jack McCartney, the town's agent, is doing this, and he's hearing mixed thoughts from the residents.
"They aren't happy with what is going on, but they are in agreement with the need for safety," he said.
He met with resident Guy Champigny yesterday morning. The town will use heavy equipment to push back the stone wall to make room for the widened road.
Champigny's property fronts about 500 feet of the existing road and includes several hundred feet of stone wall. He wonders what is going to the happen to wall sections after they are pushed. Will the wall become a rubble pile? He hopes not.
Neighbor Debbie Gringeri told selectmen on Monday that the project's scope is larger than what she expected.
London Bridge Road construction projects have spurred controversy or generated concern at each turn.
In 2006, residents rallied to preserve historic London Bridge.
Later, proposed construction of a second access to the high school generated fierce opposition, and was repeatedly defeated at the polls.
Earlier this year, faced with the prospect of the school not opening on time over lack of a secondary access, school and town officials worked with landowners to fund a town road from the back of the high school over about 3,900 feet of woodlands and connecting with the existing London Bridge Road.
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