BERLIN — Road improvement projects critical to the safety and financial well-being of Coos County were removed from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation’s 10-year plan for a lack of state funding.
Town leaders from Shelburne, Gorham, Randolph, Jefferson and Colebrook appealed to top administrators of the DOT, including William Cass, state department of transportation commissioner, to keep the projects in the sights of the state. Joe Kenney, executive councilor for District 1, also heard the pleas from town officials and later, more comments from the nearly 25 people gathered Oct. 6 in the city hall auditorium. The meeting was the start of a state-wide tour by the transportation department to explain its plans.
Remaining in the draft 10-year plan are stand-alone projects, as the DOT describes them for northern New Hampshire, are three projects totaling $21,642,105. Under that sum, the most expensive work — $15,997,499 — is for a roadway reconstruction and safety improvements from N.H. Route 115 to the Jefferson/Randolph town line. Further, a $2,159,460 project for culvert upgrades in Shelburne. And lastly, roadway reconstruction and safety improvements to U.S. 3 from Jefferson Road to N.H. Route 116 north.
Three projects removed from the proposed or draft of the 2026-2037 plan are in Gorham, Shelburne and Whitefield, according to a handout provided at the Oct. 6 Governor’s Advisory Commission on Intermodal Transportation. The total amount for the project trio is $8,424,816.
In Gorham and Shelburne, those projects could be weather related. When the force of a storm or snow melt run-off from the mountains and hills or a raging river causes overflow onto Main Street in Gorham, the road is flooded and connections to Shelburne and western Maine are impeded. Removed from the 10-year plan are a plan in Gorham to do drainage work and make retaining wall improvements alongside N.H. Route 16 one quarter mile south of Libby Street at a predicted $3,167,839 cost.
In Shelburne a $3,717,782 proposal to raise the profile of U.S. Route 2 about 2,100 feet south of North Road to approximately 2,350 feet north of Grumpy Old Men Road by Reflection Pond.
In Whitefield, pedestrian safety continues the DOT’s focus, with proposed improvements along N.H. Route 116.
Stanley Judge, a Shelburne selectman and North Country Council transportation committee member, said flood control is needed along this vital east-west road.
“If Route 2 is closed, these services will essentially be unavailable to the town of Shelburne,” he said.
Gorham resident and the town’s Planning Board chairman, Paul Robitaille, spoke of the deterioration of a retaining wall along Route 16.
“Route 16 is important to us,” he said, “Transportation is key to population growth and social needs. I was very disappointed to see that this was removed.”
Robitaille also commented that he is for a toll hike and “is surprised there isn’t a toll when you get up to the North Country.”
Gorham Town Manager Peter Gagnon said he agreed with Robitaille and spoke on the need for the retaining wall work to be completed.
“I know these are hard discussions,” Gagnon said.
Gagnon used a baseball metaphor.
“If you could put us back in the on-deck circle, that would be greatly appreciated,” he said.
Randolph selectman Michele Cormier spoke of the need for DOT to work with the legislature to increase revenue for transportation projects.
“How that is done is a legislature project, but increasing the gasoline tax will not hurt,” she said. “This tells us the state is not very serious about the 10-year plan or serious about North Country transportation.”
Currently, the state’s gasoline tax is 4.2 cents (per gallon) as approved by the legislature in 2014, it was said during the meeting.
Cass empathized with the speakers.
“I certainly agree with the need for the projects,” said Cass. “We are keeping reconstruction of Route 2 in this project.”
Cass also said he sees Routes 2 and 16 as rural arterial roads.
The money for some of the projects, including the widening of I-93 in the Bow and Concord area is not there, said Tobey Reynolds, the transportation department’s assistant director of project development. Talk of perhaps raising the toll price to ultimately collect the needed funds might be an option. Making road improvements at exits 6 and 7 at I-293 in Manchester is not possible.
We “can’t afford to do this now,” Reynolds said.
The last system-wide toll increase was in 2007. Current toll revenue is below pre-pandemic levels, a slide presentation at the forum showed. State revenue has been used or reallocated to pay off a loan where work on another section of I-93 was completed.
Federal money does come to New Hampshire, as it does to other states. The assumption is that $235 million a year toward transportation needs will go to the state from the feds over the 2027–2036 time span.
The state in its 2026-2037 plan is not proposing to cut any work on red-listed bridges, structures that are in dire need of repair. On its 10-year plan, 88 projects are listed, totaling $684 million. A lack of money at the state level to pay for these plans means between $300 and $400 million in repair, renovation or needs to be cut, and with that cut, a number of possibilities.
Speaking of local plans in this section of New Hampshire, North Country Council Senior Planner Nick Altonaga said 19 projects for transportation improvements were filed with the council. A project criterion is that it improves economic development.
Improving transportation is part of bettering the economy, said a representative from TriCounty CAP. The social service agency, she said, is looking to hire a North Country mobility manager.
Other comments included the time of the meeting, at noon on a Monday. While Berlin resident Eamon Kelley said he is able to take time from work for a daytime meeting others may not be able to do so.
Hannah Campbell, a senior development team member at The Balsams in Dixville Notch, spoke of the need for the state transportation department to keep the golf course road near Route 26 as part of its maintenance plan.
Coos County Commissioner Ray Gorman, who is also a Colebrook selectman, spoke of what a wider Route 2 could have meant, or perhaps could mean, for economic development in Colebrook and points north. Colebrook is about an hour north of Berlin.
“Route 2 should be an interstate highway. Can you imagine what Coos County would look like? Look at Littleton. When I drive down that Main Street, I just dream of what Colebrook could have been,” Gorman said.
Gorman spoke further of road safety and economic development; both are important he said. There is a connecting road from the golf course at The Balsams to the state road from Colebrook that is important to maintain. Development and fundraising to restore the resort are underway.
“DOT is such a huge part. Our roads are such a part of our North Country. Balsams wants to put millions of dollars into its restoration,” he explained.
“Anything we can do road-wise, we need to do,” Gorham said. “We need your help in the North Country. Anything we can do to get more of the share of the pie.”
With any comments on the state’s presentation or on transportation issues, send them in writing before Nov. 3 to William E. Watson, P.E., administrator, Bureau of Planning and Community Assistance, New Hampshire Department of Transportation, 7 Hazen Drive, P.O. Box 483, Concord NH 03302-0483.