Access road fast-tracked, Pettingill Road in limbo

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February 26, 2009

By Bill Gilman

LONDONDERRY — An infusion of $14 million in federal stimulus package money will slice as much as 18 months off the targeted completion date of the new access road being built to the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.

Project manager Alex Vogt said the last of eight contracts needed to build the $124 million road had been scheduled to go out to bid in 2013. However, the additional funds, announced last week by Gov. John Lynch, could help get the project completed in 2012. There are presently three contracts under construction, a fourth is out to bid and the $14 million in stimulus funds would be earmarked for the fifth contract.

The news was met with lukewarm enthusiasm by officials in Londonderry. The town's $12 million Pettingill Road project, which will open approximately 1,000 acres of undeveloped land zoned for commercial and industrial use, will connect with the access road. For that reason, an earlier completion date is good news. However, the town is still figuring out how to pay for Pettingill Road and had been hoping there would be stimulus funds set aside for the project.

To this point, no such funds have been made available.

"The project doesn't appear to fit into any one (funding) bucket, as far as the stimulus package goes," said Andre Garron, Londonderry's community development director.

Garron said town officials have been in touch with Lynch, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and other elected officials and have been assured that they support both the access road and Pettingill road projects. However, the funding question remains unanswered.

"We've been grappling with this issue of funding," he said. "We're looking for a funding process either within the stimulus package or outside the stimulus package. We're still looking for some direction."

Lynch has assigned Deputy Attorney General Bud Fitch to head the newly created Office of Economic Stimulus. Garron says he will be in contact with Fitch in the coming days.

According to Londonderry planning officials, Pettingill Road would stimulate as much as 4.5 million square feet of development and generate 4,000 to 6,000 new jobs.