Getting around the City on foot and by bike guarantees that you will see more than you could by car. It's also better for you and the community since transportation is the largest source of Concord’s municipal and communitywide emissions.
We have an opportunity to reimagine connection to our communities while meeting sustainability goals. Imagine if visitors to Concord regularly choose to travel to the East Side with a tour along historic buildings and Horseshoe Pond rather than the back of a shopping plaza? The blue line is a popular route by cyclists and the green line is the proposed plan for the Merrimack River Greenway Trail.
Since 1959, cars have not been allowed access from North State Street to Horseshoe Pond Lane. This makes it a lovely place for a bike ride or walk. The concrete blocks are a stone's throw from a potential four-way multimodal transportation intersection with the Merrimack River Greenway Trail running North to South.
Skirting Horseshoe Pond and taking the bridge over I-93 brings you to the entrance of a path that is only accessible on foot or by bike. This area is also across from the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, alongside the Police Training Center and on the NHTI campus, serving as an education connection for travelers.
The path continues alongside I-93 across the Merrimack River, offering stunning views of the water and Conservation Area. This bridge is currently on the NHDOT's 10-year plan for reconstruction and the City has requested the path be widened to accommodate City sidewalk snow plows to make this path accessible in the winter, too.
On the other side of the river, the path empties at the intersection of Portsmouth and Eastman Streets, across from a pocket park you can't see from I-93. Historical markers in the park point out that people have travelled to and from this point in East Concord for centuries - by ferry, bridge, and rail.
Officially dedicated as an art installation 100 years ago, the Eastman Clock Tower marked the transportation corridors so travelers from the North and the seacoast could set their time by it. The City received a grant earlier this year to restore the four clockfaces to working order and beautify the pocket park where it stands.
Across from the park, and along the only sidewalk of the two streets, is a marker of the first settlers in the area in 1746.
A quarter mile north on Eastman Street is the entrance to Merrill Park, which has over 16 acres with tennis courts, a pool, playground, little league, soccer, and softball fields, picnic shelter, port o potties and walking trails. Merrill Park was created when the Protestant Episcopal Church gifted the land to the City in 1925.
Just beyond the park is the only commercial district on the East Side. One of the three businesses in East Concord's 3.2 acre commercial district is the Eastside Market. Open everyday from 7am to 7pm, except Sunday (7am-5pm), the market carries on a long tradition of almost 230 years of a general store in the area. I-93 likely diverted a lot of traffic from the store, but the bridge footpath and proximity to the park help sustain it.
The rest of the East Side is zoned residential, with many single-family homes grouped in cluster developments, which help to conserve natural areas, but few sidewalks and no bike lanes create a car-dependent community. The closing of neighborhood schools meant parents drove students or put them on a bus. Traffic issues only increased when the Mill Brook School was constructed attached to the existing Broken Ground school. East Side Drive neighbors complain that the school traffic backs up to the roundabout at Exit 16, over a mile away.
Two East Side historic buildings in well traveled locations are still in use today, serving in the same capacity as the buildings they replaced. The Eastman School on Shawmut Street was built in 1870, rebuilt on the same grounds in 1936 and currently serves as the Eastman Early Learning Center.
The Bridges House on Mountain Road was built on land by a Revolutionary War Veteran, occupied by NH Governor Styles Bridges, and dedicated as the official NH Governor's residence.
Renovating existing buildings and recognizing the travel patterns of our community, we can invest in infrastructure that supports connection and sustainability while celebrating our history.
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