Friday, May 24, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Friday, April 5, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
New effort to replace Hinsdale bridges is the latest in a longstanding series of attempts - SentinelSource.com: Editorial
New effort to replace Hinsdale bridges is the latest in a longstanding series of attempts - SentinelSource.com: Editorial: The towns of Hinsdale and Brattleboro are in two different states geographically separated by the Connecticut River. But functionally, they ar…
Friday, March 29, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Raiding dedicated funds has become all too common a practice for state budget writers - SentinelSource.com: Editorial
Raiding dedicated funds has become all too common a practice for state budget writers - SentinelSource.com: Editorial: Early this month, the New Hampshire House Finance Committee began work on the 2014-15 state budget. Its starting point is a budget proposal is…
Friday, March 22, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
New Hampshire lives on water, by Thomas Burack - SentinelSource.com: Guest
New Hampshire lives on water, by Thomas Burack - SentinelSource.com: Guest: There may be no better way to see how our environment supports a vibrant state economy than to consider our reliance on water. First, tourism …
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Transportation Investment Needs
Government Relations Update-Infrastructure Needs
By Darren Benoit, ASCE-NH Government Relations Chairman
This session of the New Hampshire
For the benefit of any that missed our December meeting with Transportation Commissioner Chris Clement, the Commissioner provided a fiscally responsible evaluation of state transportation needs. The Commissioner identified four key areas where investment will be needed in order to sustain New Hampshire
In order to provide a regular pavement maintenance program for the major state roads approximately 500 miles of road need to be resurfaced each year. This allows an eight to ten year cycle and minimizes the number of roadway miles requiring more expensive rehabilitation or reconstruction. Additional investment to meet the 500 mile threshold is $12 million. For comparison, to bring all poor condition roads to good condition would require an investment of about $615 million.
Each year there are bridges added to the list of red-list bridges. A reasonable goal is to remove the same number of bridges from the list through rehabilitation and reconstruction projects. Additional investment would also shorten the time it takes for a municipality to fund bridge improvements. Investment needed to match the bridges repaired (removed from the red-list) with the bridges added to the list each year would be about $15 million of additional investment. For comparison, to fix all current state red list bridges would require about $680 million.
The I-93 widening project between the Massachusetts border and the I-293 break in Manchester
In addition, the State maintenance and preservation program will be short $25 million dollars per year beginning on July 1, 2013 due to a reduction in funding previously available through the sale of a portion of I-95 to the Turnpike system. This is a significant cut in Department revenue that could result in a substantial number of layoffs if not rectified.
The total additional revenue needed to meet these four goals is approximately $74 million.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Friday, March 8, 2013
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
HB 617-Road Toll
HB 617 passes the House today 207-163.
Former House Speaker O'Brien submitted an amendment to eliminate any increase in the gas tax and instead eliminate the diversion of funds from the Highway Fund to other departments. The vast majority of the diversion is the Department of Safety. They use about 90% of the funds diverted from the Highway Fund. By statute this diversion can not exceed 27%. The amendment was defeated by a vote of 120-251.
For background, the House has 420 members including 228 democrats and 192 Republicans. When the amendment was voted there were 371 members voting. When the Gas Tax bill passed there was 370 voting.
Of the 207 voting for the bill, only 15 were republicans. Of the 163 voting against the bill, 10 were Democrats.
The next stop will be in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Friday, March 1, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Friday, February 8, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
NH Infrastructure Investment Needs
Government Relations Update-Infrastructure Funding
By Darren Benoit, ASCE-NH Government Relations Chairman
This session of the New Hampshire
For the benefit of any that missed our December meeting with Transportation Commissioner Chris Clement, the Commissioner provided a fiscally responsible evaluation of state transportation needs. The Commissioner identified four key areas where investment will be needed in order to sustain New Hampshire
In order to provide a regular pavement maintenance program for the major state roads approximately 500 miles of road need to be resurfaced each year. This allows an eight to ten year cycle and minimizes the number of roadway miles requiring more expensive rehabilitation or reconstruction. Additional investment to meet the 500 mile threshold is $12 million. For comparison, to bring all poor condition roads to good condition would require an investment of about $615 million.
Each year there are bridges added to the list of red-list bridges. A reasonable goal is to remove the same number of bridges from the list through rehabilitation and reconstruction projects. Additional investment would also shorten the time it takes for a municipality to fund bridge improvements. Investment needed to match the bridges repaired (removed from the red-list) with the bridges added to the list each year would be about $15 million of additional investment. For comparison, to fix all current state red list bridges would require about $680 million.
The I-93 widening project between the Massachusetts border and the I-293 break in Manchester
In addition, the State maintenance and preservation program will be short $25 million dollars per year beginning on July 1, 2013 due to a reduction in funding previously available through the sale of a portion of I-95 to the Turnpike system. This is a significant cut in Department revenue that could result in a substantial number of layoffs if not rectified.
The total additional revenue needed to meet these four goals is approximately $74 million. We are currently waiting for the Governor’s budget to see what funding is proposed and how those items will be paid for. The funding options include an increase in the state gas tax, an increase in registration fees, or other fees both directly related and unrelated to the transportation system. For discussion purposes, a one-cent gas tax would raise approximately $8.3 million dollars a year in revenue of which about $1.0 million would go directly to cities and towns in the form of block grant aid. The state gasoline tax has not been increased since 1992. The registration surcharge that had been enacted previously provided approximately $45 million per year in revenue. We will continue to evaluate alternatives as the Governor’s budget and future legislation is available.
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