KEENE, NH – Officials with the City of Keene and Stantec, the consultant working on the Downtown Infrastructure Improvement and Reconstruction project, is holding a series of public workshop sessions to begin to flesh out the design of the project.

Approved multi-lane hybrid design for the Downtown Infrastructure Improvement and Reconstruction project.

Last year, the Keene City Council approved a multi-lane hybrid design for the project and Stantec got to work on the preliminary design. That design is finished and is ready for public scrutiny.

Wednesday’s workshop at 3:00 was the first, with a focus on Main Street and the general streetscape of the project, which includes things like bike lanes, trees, and furniture.

Bike lanes are included in the approved design. In Stantec’s proposed design, they run up and down Main Street with a buffer street-side between it and the parking spots. On the other side of it there’s another buffer that will be filled with trees and planters separating it from the sidewalk. Up towards the Square there’s a commerce area as well for things such as outdoor dining.

Proposed bike lane design for Keene Downtown Project

In the current design, pedestrians on the sidewalk trying to get to their cars will have to cross the bike lane. Liza Cohen of Stantec said that the bike lanes are designed to keep people from going too fast, and that by law bicyclists are required to yield to pedestrians. As far as electric bikes are concerned, that’s something that the City Manager’s advisory committee on bike lanes will need to discuss.

Also in the design is the elimination of the two slip lanes in the area; the one on Main Street drivers use to reverse direction and head south, and the other that allows drivers to go around the Square and out to Washington Street. Some community members who attended the 3:00 workshop, including City Councilor Randy Filiault, was concerned about that and asked staff to consider adding those back in.

Trees are a large part of the streetscape as well. The current design proposal saves 58 trees, removes 14 that were recommended to be removed due to their health, and leaves 40-45 up for consideration according to Ngan Han of Stantec. She said several new trees will be planted as well, but the exact amount won’t be determined until the design is finalized.

A second workshop was held Wednesday on the same focus area from 5-7:30. The findings from these two workshops will be discussed at next week’s Municipal Services, Facilities, and Infrastructure Committee meeting. There are two more workshops left on the calendar, the next will focus on Gilbo Avenue and Railroad Square on April 3rd, with a discussion at the following MSFI meeting on April 10th, and the final one will focus on Central Square and is set for May 1st, with MSFI discussion on May 8th. There will be two sessions for each, one from 3-4:30 and the other from 5-7:30, and both will be held at the Keene Recreation Center on Washington Street.

More information about the project is available here.