PLAISTOW — Town officials plan to swap roads with the state to ease traffic on Main Street.
Selectmen agreed Monday night to have Rep. Norman Major, R-Plaistow, file legislation so the town could take control of a stretch of Main Street about 300 feet long near Route 125 and the Haverhill line. The town would give up Haseltine Street, which is in the same area and about 500 feet long.
Town Manager Sean Fitzgerald said the move would allow the town to help make Main Street safer with fewer tractor-trailers and less commercial traffic. Less than two miles from the intersection on Main Street is the Pollard School and Plaistow Town Hall.
"We want to keep it from being a major freeway," Fitzgerald said.
Major said yesterday it is too late to file a bill for this session but he will try to amend a current bill. Otherwise, Major said he may have to wait until next year to file legislation.
The state representative said he has received a letter from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation that said it supports the swap and Haseltine Street meets all state road specifications.
"All the homework has been done on this," Major said.
The intersection of Haseltine Street and Route 125 has been the scene of many accidents but only one since a traffic light was installed there last year, Major said.
The town doesn't have any specific plans yet for what to do with the road but it could involve closing that section or making it one-way, according to selectmen's Chairman Dan Poliquin.
"We may just discontinue that portion of the road," Poliquin said.
A stop sign was installed at the intersection of Haseltine and Main streets about six weeks ago but so far, police Deputy Chief Kathleen Jones said, it hasn't had a significant impact on traffic.
"There are still a lot of people who still don't know it's there," Jones said.
There have been a few accidents there since the sign was erected, but it will help slow traffic, she said.
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