Lakes Region at the end of the road in 10 year hiway plan

The Lakes Region has not fared well by the ten-year highway presented to a public hearing hosted by Executive Councilor Ray Burton at City Hall yesterday. Altogether the Lakes Region Planning Commission pressed for 18 projects to be included in the plan, but only two made the list, and those just barely, while the rest were deferred until 2015 or beyond.

The plan includes reconstruction of 4.75 miles of Route 11 from Ellacoya State Park southeast to Minge Brook and reconstruction of Route 28 from Barnstead to Alton.

The plan is drafted every two years by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT), drawing on the information and recommendations of the regional planning commissions, and presented to the Governor's Advisory Commission on Intermodal Transportation (GACIT). After a round of public hearings throughout the state, GACIT will amend the plan and submit it to the Governor, who then presents it to the Legislature where it will become law with accompanying appropriations.

"We need to hear from folks who are driving these highways and crossing these bridges," said Carol Murray, Commissioner of Transportation. She explained that during the last two-year planning cycle the amount of federal funds was overestimated by some $15 million. "Most of the projects within the plan moved , and moved out," she said. She said this draft was based on realistic estimates, conceding that "we have more needs than ability to fund them."

Burton picked up the theme, saying "it is time our legislative branch started talking about an increase in our gas tax." He said the gas tax, which generates about $6 million for each additional penny per gallon, has not been raised from 18 cents a gallon for 15 years. "If you people want all these projects, it costs money and it doesn't grow on trees, especially in New Hampshire." No legislators from Belknap County were around to hear Burton's message.

On the other hand, Burton also explained that the New Hampshire Motor Transport Association has challenged the distribution of highway funds in court. The constitution requires that proceeds from the gas tax, registration fees, driving licenses and road tolls be applied to "construction, reconstruction and maintenance" of highways, "including the supervision of traffic thereon." Some $83 million in highway funds are distributed to municipalities and courts as well as to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services for programs and services only marginally associated with highways and traffic.

Finally, Burton warned that the proposed widening of I-93 from Manchester to Salem would take $420 million out of the plan. "We're not going to see many highway projects approved north of Concord."

Kim Koulet of the Lakes Region Planning Commission (LRPC)acknowledged the state suffered "a severe funding crisis," but expressed concern that the plan assigned low priority to the recommendations of the LRPC. He urged Murray to "take another look at what is consuming the dollars in this plan."

Several speakers questioned the widening of I-93. Koulet said that widening I-93 would bring more traffic to the Lakes Region, increasing the pressure on its strained road network. One Gilford resident, who lives on Route 11, said "you widen 93 and send more and more people up here and then you don't improve the roads up here." Charlie St. Clair of Laconia said bluntly "widening 93 should not be one of our priorities." "You can't build a road big enough to take the traffic," said another. "Widening 93 is going to effect everything all the way to Pittsburg."

Representative Bill Leber (R-Andover), Vice-Chairman of the House Public Works Committee, said "I'm concerned that the regional commission's proposal got so little consideration in the plan." Leber asked "to slow I-93 down and keep the preservation projects moving."