The way we design and build our
neighborhoods, cities, and regions affects whether growth enhances
or detracts from our quality of life. The transportation community
for many years has focused on the development of an interstate
system for the efficient movement of goods, people, and services.
Our highways offer unprecedented mobility benefits, but growing
concerns about air quality, open space, and traffic congestion has
led Congress to create several programs to broaden the federal focus
on transportation from simply building highways to one of smarter
planning to ensure that our communities are more livable. By
fostering places to live and work that enhance a sense of well
being, the federal focus on transportation increasingly considers
how to support American communities
At the beginning of the 20th century, Dover, NH was one of the most
vital transportation centers of New England. A railroad hub,
manufacturing town, and deep-water port in the late 1800's, Dover's
transportation network was "intermodal" a century before the term
was coined. In the early 1900's, Franklin (Upper) Square teemed with
pedestrians among the train, electric trolley, horse-and-carriage,
bicycle, and automobile traffic. Fifty years later, by the
mid-twentieth century, with the advent of the Spaulding Turnpike and
decline of the railroad, Dover's transportation network became
solely vehicle-oriented as all other modes of transportation were
relegated to secondary status. Today, with a renewed interest in
alternative transportation, and the funding mechanisms to support
it, the City is seeing resurgence as a leader in intermodal
transportation including the long awaited revitalization of passenger
rail service.
During the mid and late 1990's Dover applied for approval of a
number of transportation projects through the Transportation Enhancements (TE) and
Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) programs. Ten of
these projects received federal funding through the State of New
Hampshire Department of Transportation. Federal dollars for TE and
CMAQ projects are originated in the Highway Trust
Fund, which is fed by federal gasoline and vehicle taxes, and
channeled through the State Surface Transportation Program. The 20%
local share is funded through the City Capital Improvements Program.
Through 2001, the City completed the first two projects: Oak
Street Sidewalks and the Dover Arena Park-N-Ride. In 2001, the City
Planning Department selected CLD Consulting Engineers
Inc. of York, ME and Manchester, NH to provide project
management, engineering studies, environmental documentation, and
design services for the remaining eight projects over the next three
years. CLD will be responsible for guiding the projects through the
development stages in accordance with state and federal regulations.
The key element is to be able to follow the rules that these funding
agencies require.
As noted by Rodney Slater, Former US Secretary of Transportation,
"Transportation is about more than asphalt, concrete, and steel.
Ultimately it is about people. It is about providing people with the
opportunity for a safer, happier, and more fulfilling life." As a
partner in the Transportation Improvements Program, CLD Consulting
Engineers is proud to have the opportunity to assist the people of
Dover in achieving the goal of making the City a better place to
live, a better place to work, a better place to shop, and a better
place to travel.
The way we design and build our
neighborhoods, cities, and regions affects whether growth enhances
or detracts from our quality of life. The transportation community
for many years has focused on the development of an interstate
system for the efficient movement of goods, people, and services.
Our highways offer unprecedented mobility benefits, but growing
concerns about air quality, open space, and traffic congestion has
led Congress to create several programs to broaden the federal focus
on transportation from simply building highways to one of smarter
planning to ensure that our communities are more livable. By
fostering places to live and work that enhance a sense of well
being, the federal focus on transportation increasingly considers
how to support American communities