Hippo Press looks at Transportation Priorities

Jeff Mucciarone looks into New Hampshire's Transportation priorities in this week's edition of the Hippo Press:

The state DOT is requesting $535 million from the federal stimulus package, including $300 million for construction of a commuter rail from Lowell to Manchester, something not included in the state’s 10-year plan, which was approved in June 2008. More than 60 percent of the DOT wish list is for projects not considered priorities by the legislature, Bosse said.

The initial argument was that the federal government would require considerable funds to be used on rail projects, but that may not be the case now. Bosse said as of last week it looked like the state would receive about $11 million for rail projects. No one was necessarily expecting the full $300 million — and certainly not the full $535 million overall expected to come to the state — but some hoped amounts would be much higher for rail projects in particular, Bosse said.