By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

A proposed grant for local trail design and construction is unlikely to receive funding this year, but proponents of the plan say they remain hopeful for the project’s future.

That 5.5-mile corridor known as the Goffstown Rail Trail follows the former Boston and Main railroad from the Piscataquog River near the Main Street Bridge through Grasmere and to the Manchester city line near Sarette Field in Pinardville.

A grant proposal the town of Goffstown filed in July 2005 would have contributed as much as 80 percent of funding to a $3.5 million project to enhance Goffstown’s Rail Trail.

That project took a blow when an advisory committee did not recommend it for funding last month.

The grant money would have come from CMAQ (an abbreviation for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality), a funding program administered by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation and funded with federal money.

“The trail would provide an excellent commuter alternative,” said Lowell Von Ruden of Friends of the Greenway, a volunteer group advocating for the maintenance and promotion of the rail trail.

“It would be perfect for people who want to ride their bikes in to Manchester from Goffstown, who wouldn’t do it now because of the car traffic,” Von Ruden said.

Last year, the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission ranked the Rail Trail project as their highest priority for the program in the region, according to the Friends of the Greenway Web site.

Several town officials spoke about the project at a CMAQ Advisory Committee hearing last month. Those officials included selectmen Chairman Barbara Griffin, who also heads the town’s Rails Trails Steering Committee; town planner Steve Griffin; and former selectman Robert Wheeler.

The town learned a couple of weeks later that the CMAQ advisory committee would not recommend the Rail Trail project for funding.

However, Von Ruden said he isn’t certain this signals the end of hope for the application.

“I’ve never been though this process before, so I don’t know if there’s a chance of getting this turned around,” Von Ruden said, acknowledging that Goffstown may have to seek alternative sources of funding trail improvements in the future.

Members of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Intermodal Transportation (GACIT) likely sealed the proposal’s fate once and for all on Wednesday, May 3, when they met in Council Chambers at the State House to make their final project selections.

Results of this meeting were not available at press time.

Although this was a public meeting rather than a public hearing, Von Ruden said he did expect supporters of Goffstown’s applications to attend the meeting.

He also said members of the Greenway had lent support to the project by writing letters to the advisory commission.

State Rep. Pamela Manney (R-Goffstown) also said she had planned to attend the GACITmeeting to support the Rail Trail funding, and to support the voters of Goffstown.

Manney said Rails to Trails articles have appeared on the town ballot in 2001 and passed 1,498-1,331; and in 2003, passing 2,210-1,147.

“I am absolutely going to go to the (GACIT) meeting and speak out for the project and for the voters of Goffstown,” Manney said.

Friends of the Greenway also showed their support for the trail by participating on a Rail Trail workday Saturday, April 22.

Future options for obtaining funding for rail trail improvements include pursuing the next round of CMAQ or transportation enhancement grants; seeking funding through the state’s trail bureau, which could fund smaller-scale trail improvements with as much as $30,000; or by seeking funding or technical advisory perspectives through national coalitions who support the creation of bicycle and pedestrian paths.