The Windham Board of Selectmen has about a week left to decide whether a utilities conduit should be installed under Interstate 93 by the weigh station.

The state plans to start the Windham portion of the largescale I-93 widening this summer, and needs to know whether the conduit will go in before getting too deeply into the improvements.

The conduit would include phone, cable and electricity lines, and a water pipe as well as fiber optics line for future developments, said highway agent Jack McCartney at the board’s last meeting on Monday, July 14. It would serve the Wall Street area by Route 111, providing the potential for future development of that area.

“In the infant states of doing the work on the (Route) 111 bypass, this item was brought up and fell on deaf ears,” said Vice Chairman Bruce Breton. “The question is, do we need this for the viability of Windham in the future, and the answer is yes.”

Chairman Dennis Senibaldi said the state has agreed to pick up the cost of installing the conduit as part of their improvements and would add the conduit work into plans before going out to bid on the Windham portion of the project. The town would pay for the cost of the piping and other materials, he said.

“Just to say whether we want it or not gives them the opportunity to put it in their bid package,” Senibaldi said.

McCartney said the I-93 construction provides an ideal opportunity to install the utilities and attract developers to the Wall Street area.

If the town waits any longer, it will be much more difficult and costly to dig up the highway and install the conduit later, he said. The cost of materials will likely go up as time goes by, he said.

“A lot of the trench work is going to be done in current construction. For the conduit, you just take some glue and put the pieces together,” McCartney said. “I don’t see it being ridiculous numbers.”

A sewer line that would serve the Wall Street area is also on the table, but can be worked around the widening project and wouldn’t need to be installed until much further down the road. McCartney reiterated that the utilities are not a need at this point, but would simply be installed for the future viability of development in Windham.

Selectman Roger Hohenberger said he wanted more information regarding the town’s financial liability for the conduit before making a decision.

“If it’s only an X amount of dollars and now’s the right time to do it, that might prompt a different decision,” said Hohenberger, adding the conduit discussion goes back 30 years and the town has not had a pressing need for the added utilities yet.

The board requested that Mc- Cartney put some cost estimates together and meet with them again on Monday, July 21.

“In my opinion, if the services are available ... we could attract development in the Wall Street area,” McCartney told the board.

Selectman Charles McMahon said the conduit discussion has been ongoing for decades, and it’s time for the town to follow through.

“There’s the potential now to at least do something for Windham’s future,” he said. “We really ought to make this happen. So many things have changed in now in our town. The future folks said wouldn’t happen has happened.”