Ignore the unfriendly signage and explore this new bike path in Newington! says Matt Glenn
Last weekend I left the winter commuter bike behind, pumped up my road tires, and made my way to Dover Point to join about 20 other riders for SABR's monthly Coffee Outside.
On my way to the Rowe Bridge multi-use path (which has “temporarily” replaced the General Sullivan) I explored a new bike path spotted by my co-worker Andy. He is a frequent bike commuter between Dover and Portsmouth, and found a beautiful new 10’
multi-use path alongside the new DOT maintenance facility running parallel to the Spaulding Turnpike. It connects the end of Woodbury near Arboretum Drive to the small circle at Mitchell’s Gulf station. Unfortunately it was marked with large “Restricted Area” and “Authorized Vehicle Only” signs well in advance of the more friendly green “bike route” signs, as the two driveways to the maintenance yard do not allow car through-traffic. Other riders heading to the meet-up at Dover Point ahead of me were scared off by the signs and unable to find the path.
I reached out to Gerry Bedard, Active Transportation engineer at NHDOT, and Scott Bogle, Senior Transportation Planner at Rockingham Planning Commission. It turns out this connection was proposed back in 2022, and the town of Newington supported it as another N-S connection along with the one at Fox Point Road (which was constructed in 1997 and follows the abandoned roadbed of the original NH Turnpike). It’s great to have two routes between Pease and the bridge to the north, away from the busier Woodbury corridor– but not much help if nobody knows about them! Here’s a case for wayfinding signage that could make a big difference for very little cost.
I noticed several more places wayfinding would help, just on that one ride:
From Hilton Park along Pomeroy Cove to Dover Point Road
At Nimble Hill and at Woodbury pointing to the Fox Point/ Arboretum Drive connector
At the Rockingham-Ashland Bike Bridge between Pease and the West End of Portsmouth
At Grafton to the Sherburne Road cut-through (which allows riders to avoid Route 33)
To the C&J Terminal from Sherburne
At the Greenland Road-Harvard Street bike/ped bridge over the active rail line (also to avoid 33)
Some of these locations have green “bike” or “bike route” signage, but it would be better to name destinations and give distances such as “Pease, 1 mile” or “Transportation Center, .2 miles.”
Portsmouth has budgeted some funds for wayfinding over the years, but has focused first on large signs to major landmark attractions. It’s past time we had more comprehensive bike/ped signage, and it should be relatively simple and inexpensive. I’d like to compile a list of priority places where directional signs can help people find safer routes on the Seacoast to provide to the DOT. If you have suggestions please share them at info@seacoastbikes.org.
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