Worst Frost Heave Road Nominations
 

I asked this question a couple of years ago, and the conditions of one road I travel on all the time and one I use infrequently have led me to resurrect this question. Which roads do you think are just terrible?

I nominate the frequently traveled stretch of Long Island Road (after the beach) to Jonathan's Landing as well as the Moutlonborough Neck Road from the beach to just below Camp Tecumseh. This 4 mile stretch of road is filled with heaves, their immediate valleys thereafter, open scattered tar areas, cracks and you name it. You cannot go faster than 20 mph (jeering at the occasional jerks who do) and you have to dodge this stuff within your lane - first I travel on the right of my lane and then on the left.

My second nomination is for a nominee that wins the worst-road-for-the- longest-time award! This is Route 109 beyond Suissevale all the way to and through Tuftonborough and nearly to Wolfeboro. I have never seen anything like it - I went over it last week and the heaves, valleys, etc. defied description for frequency, depth and height, jounce, etc. I got to thinking that if I had put a bowl of eggs on the floor of my car, and was lucky enough not get them on me, that they would be well beaten by the time I got to my destination. I believe this is a state road and I do not understand why this has not been fixed, although I heard a few years ago that the state's posture is that they only maintain the good roads and forget about the rest (huh?!!!). I would think that Wolfeboro and Tuftonboro could bring some pressure on whoever if they wanted to continue having people frequent their businesses from Moultonborough and Meredith and beyond.

What are your nominations for worst frost heave, etc. road?

I nominate Lower Bay Road in Sanbornton. I have never seen it in such terrible condition.

Roller Coaster Rd. at the Weirs.

Rt. 127 in Franklin (most of you don't use it, and thank god!).

Rt. 11 near the Rt. 11A junction.

Rt. 109
 

I'll second the nomination for Rt. 109 between Tuftonboro and Wolfeboro. We drove home to Alton from the Moultonborough Country Store last Monday via 109 and you're right, in some places 15 mph was the limit and we did a lot of swerving to boot.

The road from Moultonborough to Center Sandwich.

109/113

Awful!!!!

Parade Road
 

My choice is Parade Road. Most if it is ok and there is not a lot of traffic. So we get lulled into thinking we can go normal speed.

Then BLAMMO! Frost heaves erupt from the Earth and thrust the car skyward!

Route 109
 

Amendment: Route 109 from Wolfeboro to Moultonborough.

There's a goose egg on my head from hitting the sunroof.

Used to hang around with a cool German guy. He asked, "Vy are Amedican roads zo bad?"

I said, "Eez cadazy, I veally zon't know."

Route 25C-Centre Harbor @ Dane Estate
 

On the plateau at the top of Route 25C, in Centre Harbor, just before you get to the old apple orchard on the Dane Estate, it's a very rough road. There must be lots of water drainage issues as the road is seriously corduroyed, and I slow down to about 5mph when crossing that rumble area.

In the spring, Rt 25C always gets posted 12000lb-gvw, so maybe it'll get posted early this year?

Barnard Ridge Rd in Meredith is another bad one. It looks like there was a longitudinal seismic shift, or something, like an earthquake, right along the center yellow lines......kaboom, kaboom, kaboom....good for the shock absorber biz!

Parade Road, Route 106, in Laconia & Meredith has always raised red flags for me as being one of the more dangerous roads due to the hills, speed, and curves. Someone not paying enough attention can drift across the center line....seems to be more of a problem on Parade Rd. Some people just do not really respect the center double yellow lines on the curves or watch the speed limits.

Another Vote for Parade Road
 

Parade Road is the worst I've ever seen! They built a new house on the hill, and I think maybe the drainage is different this year. Navigating the heaves is a strategy, luckily most of us are locals Monday-Friday!

I feel bad for the poor FedEx/UPS drivers with boxes tossing around the truck like marbles in a trash can! I'm sure nothing is where they left it, by the time they get to the next stop!

So, in my quest to find the worst roads in central NH (hooray?? :confused: ) I nominate Hurricane Rd. In Belmont. If you have the chance to experience this little slice of heaven please keep an eye out for my teeth, which I believe to have fallen out somewhere near the 6' "frost heave" in the middle.

Hey! Lost, one set of teeth, not in cahoots with the camper. :emb:

What roads aren't bad should be the question!
 

I nominate Little Pond Rd off of 25 into Sandwich. It joins into 109 up from the Mltb. Counrty Store. I keep hoping my "check engine" light will go out!

Route 127 Sanbornton
 

Route 127 from I-93 exit 22 to Route 132 is very heaved. This stretch of road is the worst I've travelled this year so far.

Vote is too close to call
 

Having traveled on most of the nominated roads, this is really a tough decision. Do we need a caucus or mail-in vote? Oops wrong nomination:liplick: Long Island Road is definitely in contention. Parts of 109 before Tuftonborough to Wolfeboro have the longest stretch of bone rattling misery. However, my vote must go to the stretch of 109 north of 25 almost to Center Sandwich. Some of the heaves would swallow a small compact. A question...obviously repair work is needed but does some of this flatten out as the season progresses?

Sunday I took a ride to the lake to check up on things. The worst roads by far is Scenic road and Watson Road. This is the route from The Wiers boardwalk along the water to Tamarack.

You my friend are a very brave soul. That roads terrible in August, I won't go near it for at least another 2 months!

As Jeff Foxworthy said about NH - The four 4 seasons in New Hampshire: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction.

I agree with Weirs guy, the roads jrc were on are bad in the summer – cannot imagine what they are like now. On our next run up to the camp, I just might see for myself. Could be in worst condition then my entry of route 127.

Worst road is Scenic Drive at Weirs which starts right after Lakeside Ave its a stomach's worst nitemare and a car disaster all those potholes and bumps.

Also on some of the Roads talked about

rt 106 is like a race course
Rt11 if I am correct is the one coming from Greens and Beans and that is bumpy.

Yep, it sure is! Right around the end of January (BEFORE the roads got really bad) I decided to try it one night on the way home. The kids didn't talk to me for a week. Now every night I intentionally drive down Tower Hill, a.k.a. the bobsled run, just to avoid Watson. Its terrible. :laugh:

In Alton
 

there would be two...the top of Bay Hill Road near route 28, and Rand Hill Road westbound from Alton Mountain Road.

That is a road? Does any town claim ownership or does Scenic road just fester year round?

Jeff Foxworthy si from Ga.He does not know New Hampshire.Here we have six seasons.
Summer
Fall
Winter
Mud
spring
and
Bug

You need to drive Rte 28 from Pittsfield to Altonin late winter/earlyspring. It has been ranked by the state as one of the worst if not the worst for nearly a decade.

just in case anyone was harboring hope that things would change...

http://www.wmur.com/news/15578221/detail.html

That road going the back way, close above the shore from the Weirs general store to the Tamarack is like the road that the Laconia Dept of Public Works never knew existed. Is there a personal vendetta between Laconia City Hall and maintaining Scenic Drive or is it just an old fashioned case of 'no money, sorry, maybe next year.'

I would be very carefull taking that road even in my ancient Geo Tracker, and that's a vehicle that's basically designed for a third world, backwater barrio like East Jalopi, Vermont!:)

Watson/Scenic Drive from the Weirs to the Tamarack is, IMHO, as bad as it is for no other reason then to control the flow of bikes during bikeweek. The city funnels tens of thousands of bikes through there (and only through there if you cruise the Weirs strip) and never does a single thing to improve the road. Imagine inviting that many people to your house every year and never fixing the bathroom.

Anywho, away with my soapbox, upthesaukee is dead on about Bay Hill Rd. Terrible. I also enjoyed a small section of School St. in Tilton this weekend that you have to navigate at such a slow speed I think I ended up moving backwards!

I started this thread at the heighth of my frustration with crawling along. However, it seems within the last week, either I have become totally deluded or else, I am really seeing something - some of the frost hills on the roads are beginning to flatten out, and the frost valley don't seem quite as bad or deep as they were. Is it because of the temps and the thawing that is going on during the day?....i.e., the frost going out? Of course, the accordians are still there along with my personal favorites, the parts of the roads that are cracked all open and sinking for a stretch - that's when I drive to the extreme right of the lane. Is Spring really coming, and is at least possible that some of this mess will become just a memory?

Slight change in subject. I took my car through the car wash today because the temps were in the 40s. Prior to that, it looked like a super white ghost (normal color teal) and there were 200 hundred pounds of sand on the floor in my car. After, with the sand all vacuumed out, and the car gleaming like a brand new car, I could almost hear it saying "Oh thank you, thank you"! I suppose it will get all dirty after tomorrow's storm but for one day it looked brand-new!

My Nomination
 

Winona Road from the railroad bridge in Meredith through New Hampton to the Ashland line is damn near impassable, particularly if you're driving something with a stiffly sprung suspension. It has frost heaves, erosions, and pavement sinks along the entire stretch.

I haven't traveled down that road for the past two weeks because I'm afraid I'm going to break something on my car or on my body.

A co-worker gave up traveling Winona Road to get to and from work after he lost a tie-rod and sway bar shackle when he hit a rough stretch at just the wrong speed.

On 109A traveling from Wolfeboro to Moultonboro right after the Spring Hill flashing light when it says "frost heave", they really mean it. I think I saw a Prius in there as we drove around it. ;)

It wasn't powder blue with Christmas stickers in the back window was it? :laugh: Seriously, the good news is all the prius sized heaves are gone, finally!

Frost Heaves vs Pot Holes
 

It seems like the frost heaves are going away but now we have to deal with the pot holes that are left. The town crews will be out filling them in but in the mean time I look for the puddles of water on the back roads. Or I watch the car in front of me to see if it bounces off of the ground or bottoms out!