New Hampshire and Massachusetts are holding up the next phase of the Boston to Montreal high speed rail line.
Each state has to spend 80,000 dollars to get things rolling.
Rail advocates in New Hampshire are urging transportation officials to immediately spend the money.
But Granite State officials are hesitating before they go forward.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s David Darman has more.
New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts each owe a bit more than 80,000 dollars to match a federal grant for the Boston to Montreal project.
Vermont has already signed an agreement to pay the money.
But New Hampshire Transportation officials haven’t yet asked the Governor and Executive Council for permission to spend the funds.
Commissioner Carol Murray says she’s not sure if or when she will go before the council.
15 250 …because the first key is hearing back from our sister state to the south. And if the answer comes back on a policy level that they really don’t feel that they want to proceed with the other phases of the study, nothing can work without Massachusetts being on board…15 311
Planners want to start the next phase of the project as soon as possible.
Scott Brascom of the Vermont Agency of Transportation says video mapping of the route should begin soon.
Brascom says the mapping could help engineers examine the physical characteristics of the land and the infrastructure on it.
... We’d like to do that, ideally, …after the trees lose their leaves and before snow is on the ground, for mapping and aerial mapping and that type of thing. Usually that’s the best time, when the foliage is gone, but you can still see the ground. 38 50
Rail advocates in New Hampshire are also eager for the high speed rail project to proceed.
Nancy Girard is with the Conservation Law Foundation-New Hampshire.
She says the rail line could be an integral part of the state’s transportation mix.
03 225 it sort of begs the question, why is the state afraid to put in a very nominal amount of money, which is their portion of the 250,000 dollars which is being appropriated, when they’re faced with close to a half billion dollars on upgrading 93, and they’re pushing that in every way they possibly can push it. 03 249
Transportation officials say 93 expansion and the rail study have very different funding sources.
The state gas tax helps pay for the highway.
But Carol Murray of the Transportation Department says other money can help pay for rail studies.
14 222 what we utilized for the phase 1 portion of the project was federal funds, called statewide planning and research funds. We did feel that phase ii would be eligible for those same funds. …14 246
Truckers say they hope the state continues to pay for rail without using highway trust funds.
But they are keeping a watchful eye on things, since the department spent highway funds on the Nashua commuter rail project.
The New Hampshire Motor Transport Association filed suit against the state over that spending.
Bob Scully is president of the Association.
He argues article 6A of the state constitution prohibits DOT from using highway trust fund money for any purpose other than roads.
10 41 in our opinion, the law is the law. I mean, it is or its not. So, either you cannot violate it. And that’s our opinion. That it was put there for a purpose and a reason, to benefit highway users. I’m talking about article 6a now. And that the user should benefit from the system they participate in. 10 58
The case is still pending in Merrimack Superior Court.
It may not be decided until next year.
In the meantime, Vermont waits for New Hampshire and Massachusetts to move forward on phase II funding.
Representative William Mosher of Nashua says the state should go forward with the next step in funding.
He drove locomotives for a living before he retired.
He says it’s a matter of will to fund a high speed rail line.
07 04 I’m 25 years in he rr business. And I know, if there was money available, and if the state and federal government cooperated on it, that the whole thing could be in and running in 5 years.
Planners say the studies they need to perform next could take a year or two.
And they add a functioning high speed line is probably two decades away, no matter how well things go.
Still, things can’t get going until New Hampshire and Massachusetts agree to pay their shares.
And timing is important.
In the Granite State, the leaves are beginning to fall off the trees.
