Connecting the Rail Funding Dots

The NHDOT is living from paycheck to paycheck and from loan to loan, to keep up with well-documented highway needs and it strongly suggests it can't keep up.  The Department is borrowing money from future, as yet uncollected, federal highway allocations to pay for the widening of I-93...the project that was held up for a decade by rail interests, while costs tripled.

Meanwhile, the Legislative Committee on the Capital Budget voted last week to recommend the rail-friendly Executive Council spend $360,000 in "toll credits" on a $1.9 million passenger rail study (down from the $4.1 million study they said was necessary last year).

Toll credits are credits given by the federal government to states for money collected from motorists at toll booths on Interstate highways.  In other words, the origin of the money is highway user taxes...tolls.

Additional millions have been previously allocated by the Legislature to passenger rail projects from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program. These funds, too, were collected from motorists and could have been allocated to various eligible highway projects.

According to the most recent rail study, it would cost $300 million to build it, plus another $4.6 million a year in taxpayer subsidies the first year (growing to $8.7 million in 11 years). The consultant estimated the present value of the rail service costs at $435 million (2010).

Note that rail consultants are not exactly famous for overestimating costs of large rail projects. The consultant strongly suggested CMAQ funds as a “likely potential source” of “operating revenue” (never say “subsidy”) and pointed out that CMAQ funds “have been used by the Downeaster since its start in 2002.”

Ridership? The consultant predicted the train would carry (get ready for it) about 600 round trip passengers a day - about the same as the daily traffic on South Spring Street in Concord.

Yesterday, one week after the Legislature indicated its continuing willingness to spend highway money on passenger rail, the chairman of the House Public Works and Highways Committee, from Nashua and (in Jan. 17's Concord Monitor) to increase the gas tax by 12 cents a gallon and raise vehicle registration fees by $15 a year.

Of course, he says that revenue would be set aside for critical road and bridge repairs. (It was not reported whether his statement was accompanied by a wink.)

The DOT Commissioner, another rail advocate, said the new money “would be dedicated solely to road and bridge maintenance.” This, after he acknowledges that the Legislature calls those shots, not him.

The commissioner also suggested New Hampshire should emulate Massachusetts (which just announced a 30-cent per gallon gas tax increase!) because, well, you know, we’re smarter than them. And, we all know Massachusetts is pretty darn smart in managing their transportation budget. So, the thinking goes, we should be “innovative” like them and raise taxes like them.

Finally, the governor was quoted as saying “We obviously have some unmet needs in terms of our infrastructure." The governor, another rail advocate, could have said "our highway infrastructure," but she didn't.

Does anyone else smell a rat?