News and Events

Round 4 General Grant Cycle Closes; 14 Communities Apply for Funding

Fourteen New Hampshire communities and one statewide organization filed applications for general grants in the fourth round of funding. The application period closed on Monday, Nov. 9, 2009.

Applicants seek nearly $2.7 million, incuding more than$2.5 million in infrastructure and more than $170,000 in non-infrastucture.

Regional Planning Commissions will now review and score the applications. That process is scheduled to conclude on Jan. 5, 2010. The Statewide Advisory Committee (SAC) will meet with applicants during the week of Feb. 8, 2010. NHDOT expects to announce the awards on March 29, 2010.

Applications have been received from Allenstown, Dover, Dublin, Durham, Farmington, Hopkinton, Lebanon, Littleton, Manchester, Nashua, Northumberland (Groveton), Warner, Whitefield, and Wolfeboro. The Bike-Walk Alliance of New Hampshire has submitted an application for statewide bicycle training.

Additional rounds of general grant funding have not been scheduled. Future rounds are contingent on the amount of funding remaining after the current round as well as any additional funding that may become available if the federal program is extended. The SAC normally schedules a new round after evaluating the program at the end of a grant cycle.

October 2009 Newsletter

New resource: Want to know what's involved in administering a SRTS grant? Read our new SRTS Project Administration Guide.

Concord Celebrates State's First Infrastructure Project

Mayor Jim Bouley and other local leaders in New Hampshire's capital held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new walkways on the combined campuses of Rundlett Junior High and Conant Elementary. The event was held in conjunction with Walk-to-School Day on Friday, Oct. 30.

Schools Observe International Walk-to-School Month

Kids from the North Country to the southern tier participated in International Walk-to-School Month in October.

Students in Littleton actually started in September. Rolling bike trains and walking school buses converged from multiple directions on the Mildred C. Lakeway Elementary School. Youngsters at the Ledge Street School in Nashua didn’t let the rain stop them on Oct. 7.

Youngsters at the William Allen School in Rochester kicked off their school's SRTS program with a parade on local streets followed by an assembly on Oct. 28. Read about it on Fosters' On-line.

Other participating communities include Allenstown, Andover, Center Conway, Dover, Hillsborough, Lincoln, Merrimack, Portsmouth and Rye.

Read a blog entry by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation on Walk-to-School day.

Read a Concord Monitor story about Green Commuting Week in May 2009 at the Beaver Meadow School in Concord.

Getting Started: Use Surveys to Assess Local Conditions

These first few weeks of the 2009-2010 school year are a good l time to conduct in-class and parental surveys as part of the evalution process. Visit the Getting Started page for details. New: The National Center for Safe Routes to School has added a Survey Monkey option for the parental surveys.

NHDOT Awards Nearly $740,000 to Communities in Round 3 Grant Cycle

Communities in and around the Merrimack Valley have successfully competed for the lion’s share of funding in the latest round of approved Safe Routes to School (SRTS) projects.

NHDOT has announced nearly $740,000 in awards for eight communities hosting 14 schools. This brings the total amount awarded over three rounds to more than $2,343,000, nearly half the state’s total for the five-year program.

Commissioner George Campbell approved the grants, recommended by the SRTS Statewide Advisory Committee (SAC), on June 15. Federal SRTS funds reimburse communities for 100 percent of their eligible expenses

Round 3 awards (capped at $100,000 per infrastructure project) will reimburse communities for infrastructure projects including sidewalks and school-zone signs and pavement markings. Funds will also be used for non-infrastructure programs including planning, safety education, minor incentives to encourage walking and cycling, and law enforcement efforts.

Hopkinton received the largest award, $221,225, for three separate projects, near two elementary schools and the middle school. Most of the money will be used for sidewalks, crosswalks and signs.

In Boscawen, funds will be used for part of a sidewalk network that will give local students a safe route along busy U.S. Route 3. Sidewalks built with SRTS money supplement walkways built with federal Transportation Enhancement funds.

Other communities receiving support from SRTS include Bristol, Concord, Hillsborough, Allenstown, Rochester and Warner. Applications for smaller start-up and travel plan grants remain under review. The SAC met on July 8, 2009, and has recommended approval for all startup and travel plan grants, some with changes based on eligibility requirements.

NHDOT administers the community-based program in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration.

List of Round 3 Awards
NHDOT News Release
Gorham Principal Recognized With Community Leadership Award

The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Physical Fitness and Sports has recognized one of New Hampshire’s community leaders for her SRTS efforts.

Karen Cloutier, principal of the Edward Fenn School in Gorham, was presented with the 2009 Community Leadership Award during a school awards ceremony on June 17. Only 16 community leaders across the country received the award.

Along with Rob Larivee, a physical education teacher, Cloutier has organized a walking school bus every Wednesday during the school year.

“I am sure I can speak for both myself and Mr. Larivee by saying that we have loved every single frozen, windy, cold, snowy, rainy, and every once in a while – sometimes sunny and dry day,” she told her students at the final assembly of the school year.

Construction is underway for a new sidewalk on school grounds to give students a safe route all the way to the school entrance.

Read a Berlin Daily Sun article on the presentation
View the certificate and letter
Read the nomination for the award
Photo page of the Gorham walking school bus

NHDOT Moves to Rolling Application Period for Startup, Planning Grants

NHDOT is working to expedite the planning process that can lead to comprehensive community programs.

The department and Regional Planning Commissions (RPCs) will now accept applications for startup and comprehensive travel plan grants whenever a community is ready to move ahead.

Here is the process for reviewing applications and making awards:

Applications will continue to be filed with both the NHDOT and the RPCs for an assessment of eligibility and quality of applications, applying the existing scoring criteria and identifying any questionable or ineligible requests.

1. Individual RPCs will review the applications following their own internal procedures.
2. Applications will then be examined by Statewide Advisory Committee (SAC) members, taking into consideration any recommendations and concerns from NHDOT staff and the RPCs.
3. Grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis for a combined total of up to 20 communities for startup and travel plan funding. The process will be reassessed when the number of applications approaches the limit.

Startup grant application form
Startup scoring criteria
Travel plan application form
Travel plan scoring criteria
Travel plan format

SRTS in New Hampshire offers three types of reimbursement funding:

1. Startup grants of less than $5,000 for preliminary planning and related activities
2. Comprehensive travel plan funding of up to $15,000 per school
3. General grants for both infrastructure and non-infrastructure programs and projects. Infrastructure grants have been capped at $100,000.

For the Latest SRTS News, Read our Electronic Newsletters

Additional Information

• List of Round 1 Grants
• List of Round 2 Grants
• Planning Process Key to Success of Local Safe Routes Programs
• Outreach Continues: Contact the Coordinator
• Federal Funding

New: See the Links page for a new report entitled "The Transportation Prescription: Bold New Ideas for Healthy, Equitable Transportation Reform in America."

Updated Nov. 12, 2009

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