BY JENN McDOWELL

A proposal for a traffic roundabout at Route 3 and Pembroke Hill Road will be up for discussion later this month.

Pembroke selectmen will hold a public forum for input on the state’s plan on Wednesday, Sept. 26, at 6:30 p.m., in the Paulsen Meeting Room at Pembroke Town Hall.

Interim Town Administrator Geoff Ruggles said the state Department of Transportation is currently in the planning stages of the project.

On Aug. 9, a public forum on the issue took place at Pembroke Academy.

“My understanding is that (the DOT) got mixed reviews,” Ruggles said.

Selectmen decided to have another public input session after Ruggles received a call from Donald Lyford, the state’s project manager for the proposed roundabout, asking for a submission of the town’s formal position, either for or against the project.

“The selectmen said they wanted to get more input from the public before they made any kind of comment to the state about it,” Ruggles said.

Lyford said that the proposal was met with generally negative outcry at the last meeting at Pembroke Academy.

While the proposal sprang originally from a town request to improve the intersection due to accidents, including one fatality, Lyford said he thinks Pembroke residents were turned off at the idea of a roundabout.

“They’re not opposed to making the improvements, assuming that’s what they end up doing, they just seem to be opposed to the roundabout,” Lyford said.

He added truck drivers at the meeting offered many of the opposing views on the roundabout. Most of their arguments, Lyford said, were based on the performance of a roundabout in Meredith, which was opened during construction. Apparently, large semi trucks had a difficult time navigating that roundabout while it was still being constructed.

Others at the public session, he said, believed the Pembroke intersection did not need improvements at all.

Lyford said the project will cost the state around $1.2 million, including construction, engineering, and right-of-way acquisition costs.

The construction of the roundabout will not cost the town directly, Ruggles said, but there has been some discussion that the town may have to move some utility poles and wires, the expense of which will fall on the town.

Lyford said a manhole cover will need to be adjusted and a fire hydrant moved in preparation of  construction, plus modifications to any sewer pipes below ground. He explained these changes during discussion at Pembroke Academy, he said, but added that they would be fairly inexpensive.

“I would guess it wouldn’t be more than $10,000,” Lyford said, referring to potential costs to the town.

Lyford said the state decided on a roundabout at that location because the intersection did not meet national standards to put in traffic signals instead.

Selectman Fred Kline said he thinks the town will ultimately be opposed to the project.

“If the town needs to pick between a roundabout or nothing, they’ll pick nothing,” he said at the selectmen’s meeting.

Lyford said the state will not go ahead with plans for the proposed roundabout if Pembroke residents decide against it.

“We don’t want to build something if they’re not going to support it,” Lyford said. “We’re not going to force something into a community.”