Council reestablishes Highway Safety Advisory Board to review traffic and safety requests

Hooksett — The Town Council reestablished a Highway Safety Advisory Board to provide a formal review process for traffic safety concerns including stop signs, speed-zone changes, crosswalks, streetlighting and school-bus stop issues.

Staff and councilors said the board had existed previously and that recent resident complaints about speeding and intersection safety prompted a decision to re-form it. The proposed makeup includes representatives from police, fire, highway/public works, the town engineer, a school district representative, two resident members and a project coordinator or staff liaison. The board will typically meet as needed and make recommendations to the council; staff suggested it might meet quarterly or on an ad-hoc basis depending on the volume of requests.

Nut graf: The advisory board is intended as a centralized point for residents to raise traffic concerns and for staff to apply engineering and public-safety criteria before the council considers ordinance changes or traffic-control actions.

Councilors said they expect the board to develop a clear charge and a prioritization of issues for review; the first meeting will include organization matters such as electing a chair, refining a purpose statement and scheduling future meetings. Councilors asked staff to advertise for resident volunteers to fill the citizen seats.

Ending: Staff offered to attend the initial meeting to provide administrative support; the council approved the reestablishment and asked staff to begin forming the board roster and schedule the first meeting.