Nashua residents helped secure $100,000 in dedicated funding to make the city’s sidewalks safer and more accessible. Photo: Kevin M. Gill via Flickr, CC BY 4.0.
One of the things that I love about Nashua is seeing its streets full of people – families running errands downtown, commuters heading to work, and neighbors making their way to shops, parks, and the many places that bring our city to life. But all of that depends on people being able to get from one place to another safely.
I think of a neighbor of mine who has been especially excited about the gorgeous new Riverfront walk along the Nashua River. He has mobility challenges, and for him, a beautiful new public space only goes so far if he can’t get there because the route from his home is difficult or inaccessible. His experience reflects a much larger challenge across our city. Parents navigate damaged sidewalks with strollers. Children face unsafe routes to school. People with disabilities encounter barriers that can limit where they go independently.
But this summer, Nashua took a real step toward changing that. In its FY27 budget, the city approved $100,000 in dedicated funding for sidewalk improvements – a new investment that followed months of advocacy by residents, CLF, and members of the Greater Nashua Transportation Equity Committee.
Nashua Sidewalks Need More Investment
Nashua maintains about 185 miles of public sidewalks and 2,725 ADA curb ramps. A recent city assessment found more than 36 miles in poor condition, with another 100 miles rated only fair. Chances are, if you live in Nashua, you have walked along one of them.
Despite that need, sidewalks have not received the same kind of dedicated investment that Nashua puts toward maintaining and repaving its streets. Instead, sidewalk improvements have often happened as part of larger road projects, with outside funding, or through repairs completed by city crews when resources allow.
That gap matters because sidewalks do far more than line our streets. They connect people to schools, jobs, stores, bus stops, parks, and other everyday destinations. They give pedestrians space away from moving traffic, help bring customers to local businesses, and allow people of different ages and abilities to move around more independently.
When sidewalks fall into disrepair, those benefits disappear quickly. A cracked or uneven surface might barely slow one person down, but for another it can become a serious barrier.
When sidewalks are uneven or poorly maintained, wheelchair users and people pushing strollers can be forced into the road and put at risk. Nobody should have to put themselves in danger just to get around their community.”
Skylar Wheeler
Member of the Greater Nashua Transportation Equity Committee
And if you depend on walking or public transit, a damaged sidewalk can make an ordinary trip to school, work, the bus stop, or the grocery store much harder. That is why sustained sidewalk investment matters.
Residents Pushed the City to Act
The path to this $100,000 investment started months before the final budget vote. In January, Nashua’s own Engineering Department identified $1 million in sidewalk and ADA improvements as a priority for FY27. The request showed that the city already understood how much work its sidewalks needed. But identifying a problem and actually funding it are two different things.
That is where residents stepped in. In March, members of the Greater Nashua Transportation Equity Committee and I went before the Board of Public Works and asked the city to put dedicated sidewalk funding into its capital budget. We talked about what our neighbors had been sharing with us.
As the budget moved forward, Mayor Jim Donchess included $100,000 for sidewalk improvements in his proposed FY27 budget, and the Board of Aldermen later approved that funding as part of the city’s final budget in June.
“This funding is an important first step toward making Nashua’s sidewalks safer and more accessible for everyone,” added Wheeler. “No one should have to travel in the road because a sidewalk doesn’t work for them. We still have a long way to go, but I’m excited that the city is beginning to invest in something our community has said it needs.”
The full $1 million request did not make it through. But Nashua put real, dedicated dollars behind a problem residents had been asking the city to address for a long time.
Next Step: Investing Where Nashua Needs It Most
Getting the funding approved was only the beginning. Now, we want to make sure those dollars reach the places where they can make the biggest difference.
CLF is working alongside members of the Greater Nashua Transportation Equity Committee to identify sidewalks and intersections that residents see as priorities. The city already has a maintenance schedule, but decisions about how this new funding will be spent are still taking shape. We want the experiences of people who walk, roll, and take public transit in Nashua every day to help inform those choices.
That means listening to the people who know these sidewalks best and presenting a strong, united case for investing in the places with the greatest need.
And we will keep pushing. This $100,000 is a meaningful start, but Nashua’s sidewalk needs will require sustained investment well beyond one budget year.
You Can Help Improve Transportation Equity in Nashua
This funding shows what can happen when we organize and make our voices heard. The Greater Nashua Transportation Equity Committee and Nashua Environmental Justice Advisory Board will keep pushing for safer, more accessible ways to get around – and we want more residents involved.
If a broken sidewalk makes it harder to reach your bus stop, school, neighborhood store, or another place you rely on, tell us about it.
Nashua is investing in places like the Riverfront for all of us to enjoy. But those spaces can only live up to that promise if everyone can reach them safely, regardless of age or ability. That is the kind of city I want us to keep building.
If you want to get involved or share what you are seeing in your neighborhood, email me at mvaz@clf.org.
