Minutes of Transportation Committee (TC) Meeting, January 29, 2026

Next meeting: 8:30 – 10:00 am, Wednesday, March 4, ­­2026

Present: Mary Day Mordecai (chair), Russ Cobb, Ned Hulbert, John Knight, Claire Lingham, Kully Mindemann, Don Scott; Absent: Roxanne Karter, Matt Perry (Police Chief), Ryan Whitworth.

Public Attendees: none

Agenda Items:

1) Kully to Check with Mary Ann at Town Office on the Recycling Center Traffic Study 

Kully will summarize key elements of the study at March TC meeting.

2) Status of Parking and Pavement area around General Store, PO and Community Center

John Knight reported that parking area and spaces have been lined, which seems to help with vehicle volume and traffic movement.  A second top coat will be put on parking area in May – further parking/pavement area concerns can be sorted out then.  TC does not yet have an opinion on traffic flow until the snow clears.  Steve LaMears is asking for TC’s opinion. TC will discuss this in the spring and make a recommendation (with Steve or Matt present).

3) SWRPC Traffic Volume and Speed Study has been received – TC needs to research and summarize key points 

Claire will summarize key elements of the SWRPC report, coordinating with Rick Clough and/or Henry Underwood of SWRPC, if more assistance is needed.

4) The Five Segment Walking Plan through the Village: Discussion of Funding Options, Sources and Research

Mary Day spoke about why TC’s 2025 MAST grant failed and what TC might do to submit a more competitive MAST grant in late summer 2026.  Henry Underwood (SWRPC) noted that our 2025 MAST grant was very good, but that it failed due to its high cost, low level of town-match funding and lack of certain engineering specifics.  TC needs to consider how to submit a more competitive 2026 MAST grant that has a better town-match.

TC might need to consider if it can break up pieces of the Segment Three work proposed in the 2025 MAST grant into smaller chunks, some of which might be done before the 2026 MAST grant submission.  This could reduce the size of the 2026 MAST grant, enable a better Town match as a percentage of total project cost – and make the MAST grant competitive enough to be awarded (in November 2026 when MAST grants are awarded).

Mary Day had initial talks with several potential funding contacts to assess other funding possibilities to enhance our 2026 MAST application and/or enable smaller pieces of Segment Three work to be accomplished separately from MAST.  She spoke with a consulting engineer, JB Mack and Henry Underwood of SWRPC, Andrea Hodson of the Select Board and others.  The TC agreed to research and prepare reports on these funding sources for its March meeting.

  1. a) The Trip Hammer and the Community Center projects: What impacts will they have on the walking path segments. John Knight will report further on this at TC March meeting. A Community Conversation may be considered to educate residents further.
  2. b) A Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) grant. Mary Day will research TAP for its requirements and its potential usefulness. (Potential drawbacks of TAP grants is they are 4 years out and require a 20% Town-match.)
  3. c) The Recreational Trails program: these grants come through NH State Dept of Cultural and Natural Resources. Mary Day will give the contact person info to Russ to research..
  1. d) AARP’s Challenge Program: Mary Day will check with JB and give contact info to Kully to research.
  1. e) Timber for Transit funds is a NH State Program, is another possible funding source, requiring equal match from town for boardwalk/sidewalk. Don will research.
  1. f) SWRPC Engineering funds: Mary Day will research further with JB Mack. JB notes SWRP may have engineering money by spring this year – possibly for part/all of an engineering study.
  1. g) Tom Jamison with the State recommended CMAQ related to air quality and taking cars off the road. In a conversation with J.B. Mack, Mary Day learned that pedestrian projects are rarely funded by CMAQ.
  1. h) Mary Day suggested that VHB might, for a small fee, provide a visually compelling picture of all five possible Main St .walking segments, which would enable residents to understand the full possibility of making Main St. safer for walking and biking. This kind of presentation could be the subject of a Community Conversation and a Common Threads article. It would help residents see the importance of comprehensively addressing Main Streets walking challenges. Mary Day will speak with Greg Bakos about the feasibility and cost of such a visual presentation. 

5) TC Funding Request of Select Board (SB) at its January 29, 2026 Meeting

TC members agreed that TC will ask Town to budget $15K in 2026 to help improve the competitiveness of our 2026 MAST grant (or to be used to address accomplishing a part of the Segment Three walking path).  Mary Day will make the formal request at SB’s meeting tonight. She will discuss how $15K can leverage addressing other parts of the Segment Three path (e.g. the ledge cut-away or the engineering study for the Main St path) or be dedicated to increasing the Town-match for a MAST Grant submission.