NH DOT Chief: Roads and Bridges Need Gas Tax Hike

Chris Clement didn't hold back this morning when he laid out several reasons why the state Legislature needs to invest millions of additional dollars into New Hampshire's roads and bridges.

Unless state lawmakers either approve a proposed 15-cent gas tax increase proposed by Rep. David Campbell, D-Nashua, or look elsewhere in the general fund, Clement, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, said the state will not be able to properly maintain its roads and bridges.

House Bill 617 was scheduled to be voted on by the full House of Representatives today, but the House session was canceled due to the weather.

Clement was the keynote speaker at the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce's Bank of America Breakfast Series at the Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel.

Clement explained the New Hampshire road system consists of 4,559 miles – 790 miles are federal highways and 2,799 miles are state roads. He said it costs $51,000 per mile to keep a road in good to fair condition.

In 1991, 3,007 of the state roads were in good condition, he said. In 2016, that number will drop to 2,437 miles of roads will be in good or fair condition, he added.

“For me, that’s irresponsible,” Clement said. “We need $12 million more per year to stay on the green path,” he said.

He said the state's overall goal of repaving 500 miles of roads per year is not being achieved.

There are several reasons for this, Clement said. Part of it is because the price of of liquid asphalt cement pavement has gone up 460 percent since 1992. He said the same is true for the cost of gasoline, diesel, parts, and road salt. Meanwhile, the overall state DOT budget has not been increased since 1991 and the state agency has 300 less workers than it did then.

“We are the only state agency in state government that has continually shed people over the last 20 years,” Clement said. He said 57 percent of the DOT staff is eligible for retirement in the next five years.

He said $615 million would be needed to bring all poor condition pavement roads to good condition, which includes bridges, guard rails and drainage. Right now, Clement said only 19 percent of the state roads are in good condition, 37 percent are in poor condition, 44 percent are in fair condition.

Red list bridges, where the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge is currently ranked as the state's number one red list bridge, also continue to go up, he said.

Clement said there will be 162 red list bridges by 2014 and that number will increase to 174 by 2016. Even more troubling is that Clement said municipalities have 353 red list bridges, “and that number is growing exponentially every year.”

“We need about $15 million per year just to keep our red list bridges at 140 per year and to start trending downward,” he said. He said the state closed 12 municipal bridges in 2012. He said it would cost $680 million to replace 140 red list bridges.

In addition to completing the Memorial Bridge project in July, Clement said he wants the state to appropriate the $22 million per year that is required to pay the $250 million bond to complete the Interstate 93 widening project.

He said the state also needs to finish the Newington/Dover General Sullivan Bridge project. Clement said right now there is no money funded for the Dover side of it.

"We need another $25 million for maintenance and preservation per year," Clement said. "We need an additional $27 million for highway and bridge preservation."

While he stressed that he did not come to speak to the chamber members to advocate for higher fees or a gas tax increase, he did point out that Campbell's plan would provide enough money to meet all of the state Highway Fund's needs, which in turn would meet the state's overall transportation infrastructure needs.

Clement pointed out that while New Hampshire's gas tax is 18 cents per gallon, it is far lower than neighboring New England states like Maine (31 cents) Massachusetts (23 cents), Connecticut (49 cents), Rhode Island (33 cents) and Vermont (26 cents).