New Hampshire officials are considering cutting $1.5 billion from the state’s 10-year highway construction plan, the Associated Press reported. The state’s five-member Executive Council is set to vote as early as next week whether to accept the revised plan and send the $2.5 billion package to Gov. John Lynch for approval, the news agency reported; the Legislature would then take up the plan.
According to the AP, projects that were cut include a new exit off Interstate 93 in Derry, the long-delayed Circumferential Highway around Nashua, a Troy bypass and related work, a connector between Route 3A and I-93 in Franklin, and much of the proposed Conway Bypass.
The original plan was projected to cost $4 billion and take 35 years to complete. Charles O’Leary, New Hampshire’s acting transportation commissioner, told the AP that even the reduced plan is not enough, and that the highway plan still needs to be cut by another $500 million.
