Haverhill’s Ward 6 Candidates Talk Bridges, Route 125 Traffic and Quality of Life

Voters in two Haverhill wards cast ballots Tuesday to narrow the field of City Council candidates in those neighborhoods.

Three candidates are squaring off for two spots on the final ballot for Ward 6 city councilor in the general election in November.

Incumbent Michael S. McGonagle and one of his challengers, Timothy F. Carroll Jr., appeared on WHAV’s morning show and answered questions about specific issues in Ward 6. The third candidate, Oliver Aguilo, did not respond to telephone, email and social media requests for an interview.

McGonagle and Carroll are Haverhill natives. Carroll is a Haverhill firefighter and former president of firefighters union local 1011. McGonagle is retired.

Answers are presented in the order candidates appear on the ballot.

Ward 6 faces traffic disruptions due to the Rosemont Street and Snows Brook bridge replacements? Do you plan to take steps to influence detours, ease congestion or something similar?

“The reality of that is that is it is only going to get worse with those bridge changes coming up. So I think a lot of signage, I think a lot of working with the traffic and safety department,” McGonagle said.

Carroll responded, “So, living up in that area, it is very difficult to detour around anything going on up there. The only thing I can say right now is that you got to be patient up there when they are doing roadwork up in that area. It’s traffic from noontime to 7 p.m. on 125. You can’t get up there without sitting in traffic.”

For many years there has been talk of a Route 125 bypass directly into Plaistow, N.H., to avoid the bottleneck at the New Hampshire line. Do you see traffic as a concern especially as it might influence emergency vehicles?

McGonagle replied, “I think from a public safety standpoint, these are all the considerations that will be talked about on a weekly basis as these projects move forward.”

“The thing you can do on Route 125 is you can widen it to two lanes. That’s about the only option you have. You would have to take some of the sidewalks away and some of the property going down 125 away which then you would have to fight with the homeowners going down on 125,” Carroll said.

Ward 6 has an industrial section, Hilldale Avenue, near the New Hampshire border. It’s been described as a wild west with mixed uses and few amenities for bicyclists. What improvements, if any, would you push along that corridor?

“Should that road at some point be looked at? I believe it should. I just don’t know where that money would come from right now and, with the bridge work going on now, I think the best thing we can do is monitor the speed,” McGonagle said.

Carroll said, “We need more businesses in the community. That’s where the money comes from. That’s where we are going to keep the taxes down on our residents if we get more industrial space and more companies coming in and spending tax dollars and getting the revenues from those tax dollars.”

What is Ward 6’s best feature?

“What I love about Ward 6 is its well-established neighborhoods,” said McGonagle.

Carroll mentioned the businesses, saying, “All the restaurants on 125. I am right there. I can walk to several so I’ll use that as the answer,” Carroll said.

Interviews with Ward 4 candidates, Kenneth Quimby, Guy Cooper and incumbent Melissa Lewandowski are heard during the next WHAV newscast.