Posts by Bryce Kaw-uh
A look at what’s on the Planning Board agenda for Jan. 18.
Our city deserves bold, forward-looking leadership as we navigate the road ahead. I believe we can provide all Manchester residents with a high quality of life so long as we choose to act on our incredible potential.
Thanks to a state law passed in 2019, municipalities like Manchester are allowed to purchase energy directly from wholesale electricity suppliers in search of the lowest price possible for their residents. We already have two great local examples to follow:Â the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH) and Keene Community Power (KCP).
Bringing passenger rail service to Manchester would cost less than the recently completed I-93 widening project. Widening I-93 between Manchester and Salem cost a total of $751 million in 2020 dollars. Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $870 million today. Passenger rail would cost $597 million to build which is significantly less. You may remember the Union Leader article that claimed rail would cost $782 million, but that’s because the newspaper failed to mention that the figure was in Year-of-Expenditure (YOE) dollars, which basically takes decades of future inflation into account.
The passage of this misguided bill would effectively kill any chance of Manchester achieving regional passenger rail service. That would throw an enormous wrench in our community’s 2019 Regional Economic Development Plan, our 2020 Transit Oriented Development Plan, and also our award-winning 2021 Master Plan.