If it felt like you sat in a lot of construction-induced traffic snarls this past summer, you’re not wrong. A steady influx of federal dollars and revenue from state turnpike tolls and gas taxes are funding everything from the repair and replacement of deteriorating bridges in rural areas to widening and expansion of some of the state’s busiest traffic corridors.
But there are major challenges to addressing NH’s infrastructure needs. New Hampshire Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner William Cass notes that, because of limited funds, the department has focused on preservation and maintenance, like addressing the dozens of unsound “red list” bridges in the state, rather than advancing large new projects. Roughly 7.5% of the state’s bridges are classified as structurally deficient, according to Joshua Reap, president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors of NH.
Increasing materials cost, inflation, workforce shortages, and declining gas tax revenues pose additional hurdles.
“New Hampshire depends very heavily on federal funding” for infrastructure work, Cass says, and though that funding has remained stable for the last few years, continued authorization by Congress is not guaranteed.
Federal Funding Sources
The recent federal funding has come from two main sources.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, was signed into law in November 2021 to provide $1.2 trillion to invest in America’s infrastructure. In NH, about $235 million a year goes into transportation, according to Cass. The law expires at the end of September 2026.
“Congress passes a bill. Then it takes time to work through the system. We’re actually starting to see that money now hit the streets,” says Reap. Another funding source was the federal $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed into law in March 2021 to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It included some funding for infrastructure work.
New Hampshire received almost $1 billion, with portions designated for state and local infrastructure, housing, IT infrastructure, and water and sewer investments. The funds must be expended by the end of 2026.
Taylor Caswell, commissioner of the NH Department of Business and Economic Affairs, was appointed head of the Governor’s Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery (GOFERR), which has overseen allocation of the ARPA funds.
Caswell says roughly $180 million was allocated to water infrastructure, $122 million to broadband infrastructure and $100 million toward housing, among other allotments.
User fees at turnpike toll plazas provide another $140 million to $145 million per year for turnpike construction projects, according to Cass. The statewide gas tax on motor fuel brings in roughly $125 million for infrastructure work.
A portion of state highway revenues and vehicle fees go to municipalities to build or maintain Class IV and Class V highways through the Highway Block Grant Aid program, which allocated roughly $38 million for Fiscal Year 2026.
Where’s All the Money Going?
Some of the major projects include improvements along three sections of the F.E. Everett Turnpike, with Bow-based R.S. Audley doing the work.
Northbound and southbound lanes between exits 12 and 13 are being widened, as is the stretch between exits 8 and 10 where a new bridge is being constructed over Bowers Pond. Another project will convert the current toll booth system to overhead high-speed tolls. Those projects are expected to be completed by fall 2027.
Audley is also working on a $43.7 million project to rehabilitate two “red list” bridges that carry Interstate 89 over the Connecticut River between Lebanon, NH, and Hartford, Vermont, according to Ryan Audley, president and CEO of the company.
Cass says the state recently began advertising a project to remove the closed General Sullivan Bridge between Dover and Newington. Original plans called for replacing it with a new, separate bicycle and pedestrian bridge but they were put on hold because of high bids. The DOT is now entertaining a less expensive plan.
Work is ongoing on a $107 million project to replace the Route 1A bridge over Hampton/Seabrook Harbor, according to Cass.
Weaver Brothers Construction Company in Bow is in its second contract for work on the Interstate 93 Exit 4A project, which will provide a new interchange on the highway in Londonderry about a mile north of the current Exit 4, providing access to the east side of I-93.
According to Adam Bates, project manager and part owner of Weaver Brothers in Bow, the firm is also doing rehabilitation work on northbound and southbound Interstate 89 in Sutton-New London, as well as rest area reconstruction and bridge preservation in that area. It has also taken on a $5.6 million roundabout project on the Henniker/Hopkinton town line at the intersection of routes 202 and 127.
Karen Prince, president and CEO of Plymouth-based R.M. Piper and president of General Contractors of NH, says her firm specializes in heavy highway, road, bridge and utility construction and business is steady.
The company is replacing a bridge for the town of Wentworth as an anti-flooding measure, conducting a bridge preservation project for the state in Haverhill and a bridge project in Lee, and is a subcontractor for Weaver Brothers on a bridge project in Derry. The firm’s project costs range from $100,000 to $10 million, she says.
HEB Engineers in North Conway is also seeing steady demand for its services. One of the firm’s primary focuses is municipal construction, says Christopher R. Fournier, vice president and director of structural engineering, including infrastructure and roadway projects, recreational paths and conservation surveys.
Fournier says the firm has about 20 active municipal projects throughout the state, administered through DOT with federal funds. They include bridge work in Wilton, bridge and culvert projects in Laconia, and other work in Canaan and Wentworth.
One example is the replacement of a “red list” bridge on Gristmill Hill Road that crosses the Indian River in Canaan to connect to Route 4.
Audley points out that smaller communities are not forgotten when it comes to infrastructure work. “Commissioner Cass and his team are doing a very good job of balancing that,” he says. “Statewide, there is a robust distribution of funds to make sure rural communities are getting their share.”
Tobey Reynolds, assistant director of project development for the state DOT, points to additional programs to help local communities with transportation work. The Transportation Alternatives Program helps municipalities develop non-motorized traffic infrastructure and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program also helps provide transit improvements. The programs are funded 80% by the federal government and 20% by local communities, according to Reynolds.
Facing Challenges
Meanwhile, industry leaders are looking for solutions to some of the challenges they face.
“It’s been a wild ride the last few years as far as being able to find the workforce and material lead times, and being able to hold pricing,” says Bates. “When you get into a multi-year job, it’s more of a challenge.”
Cass says “not having workers that want to do this type of heavy, hard construction work” is the most common concern he hears among contractors. “We find that with our own staff at the DOT,” he adds, “both in the professional levels and our highway and operational folks.”
Prince sees a gap between older, skilled workers and the younger generation, which is why her firm is trying to attract young workers with the message that “this type of work is a really good alternative to a four-year program.”
Workforce woes are exacerbated by a lack of housing for workers. “We need to focus on getting more affordable housing for the workforce. We’ll do our part to build the roads to the housing, and we need other people to build the housing,” Bates says.
Reap adds that improved water and sewer infrastructure in parts of the state would improve capacity to address the housing shortage.
Rising Building Costs
“We’ve seen a pretty drastic increase in construction costs since COVID, some years as much as a 20% increase,” notes Fournier.
Meanwhile, the toll rate in NH hasn’t increased since 2007, according to Cass, and gas taxes have been declining because of the move toward more fuel-efficient vehicles.
That has put on hold projects to address things like the bottlenecks through Concord, Cass says. “One of the things we’ll be talking about with the 10-Year Plan is whether there’s support to consider a toll increase to support these projects,” he adds.
Reap says “there is still so much that needs to be done with road work and bridge work” in the state, and wonders whether public-private partnerships might be helpful. He points to the example of northern Virginia, where a privately built fast lane was added to a highway, paid for by tolls.
All agree that investment in infrastructure can only pay off in the end. Infrastructure, says Bates, is “the backbone of the economy. It’s how our goods get transported and how our workforce gets to work.”
Reap says improving infrastructure helps residents and business owners save money, have easier commutes, transport goods more smoothly and saves vehicle owners hundreds of dollars in repairs.
While the short-term traffic inconvenience posed by public infrastructure projects may be frustrating, Audley says, history shows that investing in highway corridors boosts the economy by attracting new business.
“When the public investment is made, the private investment follows,” he says.
