Town Seeks $8.2M in Federal Funding for Pettengill Road

William Hart, Interim Town Manager of Londonderry announced that the Town had successfully submitted an application for federal funding for the long-planned Pettengill Road construction. The construction of this connector has been independently projected to create up to 10,000 new jobs.

The application was electronically submitted June 3rd for $8.2m in federal transportation funds from the economic-recovery program “Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery”, or TIGER. The Town is asking for 100% funding, although it acknowledges that 100% funded TIGER projects are very rare. Historically, federal dollars have been no more than 40% of a total project’s cost.

“The Town Council has made it clear in discussion about economic development that finding the funding for the construction of the Pettengill Road is job-one”, said William Hart, Interim Town Manager for the Town. “With this direction, we made a full-court press to submit a sound and compelling application. We are convinced that the project’s readiness and huge job impacts should make it competitive.”

The Town’s efforts were assisted and endorsed by the NH DOT, the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission, and several major businesses. A wide range of local leaders – US Senators Shaheen and Ayotte, Congress members Carol Shea Porter and Ann McLane Kuster, Governor Hassan and NH State Senator Sharon Carson among others have endorsed the proposal. The Town Council expressed support for the application.

Hart noted that the Town had submitted a similar application in an earlier round that was not funded.

“The access road was not built then, and we were not as ready to proceed with sewer improvements then as we are now. That was more speculative; build it and maybe jobs will come. We know now that there is real demand for this industrial area if we can collectively find a way to finance the connector. If funded, this will be a great step toward much-needed job opportunities for our region”.

The Town expects to hear a decision by the fall, and to be ready for construction start in spring of 2014, as overseen by the Town’s Department of Public Works. The application team was led by the Town’s Planning and Economic Development Department, and received assistance from its new contractor for economic development services, the Arnett Development Group.

The full grant application can be viewed here.

For further information call Cynthia May at 432-1100 x128; cmay@londonderrynh.org

Submitted by the Town of Londonderry.