A gateway to the Lakes Region and North Country, the I-93 welcome center and service areas in Hooksett and Bow were outdated and worn. Facility owners, New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) and New Hampshire State Liquor Commission (NHSLC), selected a team comprised of private developer Granite State Hospitality (GSH) and enlisted VHB to work with them to revitalize the aging facility and bolster their economic potential. VHB contributed to the preliminary design documents and revenue and financial performance estimates for the Developer RFP response, then developed preliminary design, engineering and landscape design documents for all site work, state permitting, and construction phase services.
Throughout the process, VHB and the rest of the GSH team worked through complexities such as the competing priorities of the public and private parties involved, difficulties with the sites and existing infrastructure, as well as location of the existing transmission lines. The result of this $31 million project is a pair of state-of-the-art facilities that are continuously fulfilling their goal of providing a welcome respite to travelers into the Granite State.
