Peterborough police plan to conduct traffic studies on High Street after residents raised concerns about increasing traffic and speeding on the road.
Multiple residents of High Street asked the selectmen at the Tuesday night Select Board meeting for traffic calming measures on the road.
L. Phillips Runyon III, one of the residents of the street, said over the years, he’s seen a “gradual but steady” increase of traffic, which he expects to only be compounded next year, during the closure of the Main Street Bridge for repair.
Currently, Runyon said, traffic is using High Street as a cut-through from Route 202 to the downtown or Route 101.
“The traffic tends to be a lot faster than it should be because those folks don’t live there, they just want to get through there as fast as they can,” Runyon said.
Melissa Goldthwaite said she’s experienced speeders while walking her dog.
“I’ve had cars come by us within 12 inches, and they have to be going 40 or sometimes 45 miles per hour,” she said. “That’s too fast.”
High Street has a standard speed limit of 30 miles per hour and includes a school zone for Peterborough Elementary School, which lowers the speed limit to 20 miles per hour during school hours.
Police Chief Scott Guinard said police do regularly patrol High Street regularly, and said there has been an increasing use of the road by through traffic. He recommended the police do a more extensive traffic study that would include car counts and speed monitoring that would result in a list of recommendations for selectmen.
The Select Board concurred and authorized Guinard to conduct the study.