NHDOT Approves City of Portsmouth as First Community Eligible for DOT Type II Noise Abatement Program Funds

New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) has notified Mayor Blalock that it has accepted the City of Portsmouth’s application to participate in the NHDOT’s Type II Noise Abatement Program and that the city is the first in the state determined eligible for the program.

In 2018 the City’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for 2020-2025 called for a $3.4 million project to install a sound barrier for I-95 highway noise abatement along the corridor adjacent to the residential area of Pannaway Manor. In April 2018, NH DOT Assistant Commissioner Bill Cass visited to inspect the site. And on January 1, 2019 the City Council voted to adopt Highway Noise Overlay District and zoning ordinances addressing development in areas in proximity to highways, which were required for the application.

The NHDOT approval allows the City to apply for 82 percent of the cost of implementing noise abatement plans for the I-95 corridor Pannaway Manor project. The CIP outlines a five year project, with NHDOT funding of $400,000 in FY20 and $480,000/year for FY21 through FY25. The City’s 18% contribution starts in FY21. The money will come from the NHDOT’s Ten Year Transportation Improvement Plan (TYP) when that plan is funded.

As the City of Portsmouth is the first community to meet the Type II eligibility requirements, the NHDOT  intends to conduct a pilot Type II community noise assessment to provide guidance on the needs associated with similar potential future efforts. 

According to the NHDOT letter the City received from Victoria F. Sheehan, Commissioner of the NHDOT, “We anticipate completion of this pilot study by the Fall of 2019, at which time all Type II eligible abatement measures will have been identified within the City of Portsmouth.  Upon completion of this study the results will be provided to the City of Portsmouth.”

“The City of Portsmouth has worked for more than a decade to find noise abatement solutions for the Pannaway Manor neighborhood and others throughout the city, now and in the future,” said City Manager, John P. Bohenko. “Our NH legislative delegation has also pursued creative approaches on our behalf for State-level funding. The adoption in January of noise abatement ordinances made it possible to move quickly on the application to NHDOT and now Portsmouth is the first community in the state to be approved for Type II Noise Abatement Program funds. Our representatives to the NH Legislature are pursuing funding for TYP.  The new noise abatement ordinances also address development in areas in proximity to highways in the future.”