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Committee approves toll‑credit use to fund regional planning, bus terminal upkeep and a Keene intercity‑bus pilot
Summary
The committee approved two biennial requests to use Turnpike toll credits for statewide transportation planning (CAP 25‑007) and for a package of transit activities including bus terminal maintenance, regional mobility managers, a transit assessment and an intercity Keene pilot (CAP 25‑010).
Danielle Chandanay, director of finance, and Shelley Winters, director of the Division of Aeronautics, Rail and Transit, briefed the Capital Budget and Capital Project Overview Committee on two biennial requests to use Turnpike toll credits as match for federally funded transportation projects.
The first approved item (CAP 25‑007) would apply toll credits to State Planning and Research (SPR) transportation planning. Winters said the credits support the development of the 10‑year plan, regional planning commissions (RPCs), GIS work and asset and performance management within the department.
"This request includes roadway and bridge inventory requirements that we're required to report on annually to the federal government," Winters said in response to a committee question about coordination with the state's Granite (GIS) data system.
The committee next approved CAP 25‑010, a $2,405,000 request in total credits to meet match requirements for multiple transit activities. Winters described four components: upkeep of seven state‑owned bus terminals (with some work expected to be procured via contracts subject to Governor and Council approval), continued funding for regional mobility managers, a statewide transit assessment (last updated in 2018), and a pilot to expand intercity bus service to Keene.
Winters said the Keene pilot would be funded with federal dollars that require a 50/50 match; the $1.8 million figure discussed in the meeting was described as the estimated subsidy over the pilot period. "The way the Federal Transit Administration works is that 50/50 participation ratio is on the net cost," Winters said. Staff said they plan to issue an RFP in the next 6–8 months and hope to start service next July.
Committee members asked for ridership and trend data on existing routes (for example Concord to Littleton, Berlin and Conway) and for regional services such as Carroll County Transit; Winters said the department would provide historical ridership from 2019 to present and distribute it to committee staff.
