During its history, one of Preservation Company’s primary areas of expertise has been the documentation of New Hampshire’s transportation corridors.

• This period has seen the evolution of the state’s three primary north-south corridors which historically provided the vital connection between the older southern/seacoast areas of the state and its northern regions. On the east side of the state, Routes 1A and 16 formed the eastern north-south route (“the Eastside Road”). Historically the southern part of this route provided access to New Hampshire’s first Turnpike, now Route 4, going between Portsmouth and Concord. In the center of the state, foot, boat, railroad, and later vehicular traffic followed the Merrimack River and its shores. This path eventually was to become the Daniel Webster Highway (Route 3) and later Interstate 93/ the Everett Turnpike. On the west side of the state, these same modes of travel were to follow the Connecticut River and its shores and were eventually to become part of the Dartmouth College Highway (Route 10).

• In addition to these, one of the state’s earliest and most important corridors goes northeast /southwest along the coastline. What eventually became the Route 1 and I-95 corridor moves traffic through the state between eastern seaboard states and across the Piscataqua River. Other east/west roads across the state which connect the major north/south corridors were historically given less emphasis and have proven to be bottlenecks over time. Eventually Route 101 and Interstate 89 filled these niches. Preservation Company has worked on all of New Hampshire’s travel corridors and has a deep understanding of the pattern and history of their evolution.

• Many energy projects fall under the aegis of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and/or NEPA; these projects often have the potential for visual impacts to historic resources. Preservation Company has extensive experience in assessing visual effect particularly in the varied terrain and vegetative conditions of New England. We have assessed visual effects on hundreds of historic resources of all types including those in settings with high scenic value. For a recent project, Preservation Company designed a protocol to assess visual effects and completed assessments for nearly 200 New Hampshire historic resources (both historic districts and individual resources) in a report for the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee. We also analyzed visual effect, and wrote and produced draft Section 106 Effect Evaluation Tables for 114 resources for submission to the U.S. Department of Energy. Our efforts involved identifying and evaluating the effects of the project on historic resources ranging from individual buildings to large (up to 7,000-acre) cultural landscapes in New Hampshire and Vermont.

• We employed a number of innovative approaches to assessing visual effects including the use of Google Earth Ground-Level View and Google Earth photo-overlay in conjunction with a digital 3-D model of the project. These methods were used in conjunction with onsite findings and viewshed mapping to insure the most accurate results. Preservation Company worked side-by-side with allied professionals including visual consultants to provide strong defensible conclusions regarding project effects on these resources. With respect to wind farms and cell towers, in New Hampshire the New Hampshire Division Historical Resources (NHDHR) has specific guidance relating to survey requirements for each type of project. For wind farms, Preservation Company has worked on various projects where these guidelines were used. Cell Tower projects fall under an FCC Nationwide Programmatic Agreement, thus follow a slightly different process from other Section 106 projects. Preservation Company is familiar with, and has worked on various projects following NHDHR guidance on the Nationwide PA for cell towers. Both wind farms and cell towers projects have significant visual components and thus call for special expertise in, and familiarity with, scenic viewsheds.