MANCHESTER, NH – New Hampshire will get $15 million for its community electric vehicle charging project, part of $5 billion in allocations funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation Friday.
The money has been long-awaited by the state – it’s one of seven states receiving their first Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant award. New Hampshire first applied in 2023, and watched neighboring Maine and Vermont get awards in previous rounds before it finally was awarded the $15 million in CFI money this week.
In all, the U.S. DOT announced funding for more than 560 Investing in America projects across all 50 states that also includes money for the Railroad Crossing Elimination Program, the Restoration and Enhancement Grants Program, the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Program, the Airport Infrastructure Grants Program, the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program (Rural), and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program.
President Joe Biden’s Investing in America policy was largely funded by the $1.2 trillion BIL signed into law by Biden in November 2021.
The final allocations announced this week also wrapped up 13 New Hampshire airports that were awarded $10.2 million in 2024, part of $35 million allocated to the state if projects are approved. The state will also benefit from up to $500,000 earmarked for the Downeaster Amtrak line, which runs from Boston to Brunswick, Maine, and includes stops in the state.
The $15 million the state will get for EV charging, a portion of $635 million awarded, will enhance public EV charging infrastructure across the state, in both rural and urban areas. It aims to improve access to electric vehicle charging across nine regions and install 199 charging ports, according to the federal announcement.
The state in 2023, when it unveiled the proposed project, said the CFI grant will allow the state to :
- Enable drivers to charge EVs at their destinations
- Encourage EV drivers to drive to walkable downtown areas
- Enable residents without their own garages or driveways to charge EVs
- Support historically underserved and often overlooked communities
Priority locations for the project are commerce or culture centers, rural locations, areas close to multi-unit dwellings, tourist attractions, parks and public spaces and near transit hubs.
The federal government received 416 applications requesting a combined $4.05 billion in funding, more than six times the amount of what was available. The round of funding, the third, expands the number of states with an awarded CFI project to 44, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The program is administered by the Federal Highway Administration.
The award was lauded by the state’s congressional delegation in a news release. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Sen. Maggie Hassan helped negotiate the grant, and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-1st District, supported it.
“Building out electric vehicle charging hubs across New Hampshire, particularly in the state’s rural communities, will make electric vehicles an option for more Granite Staters, bolster New Hampshire’s economy and advance progress toward our clean energy goals,” Shaheen said in a news release by the state’s congressional delegation, which also includes Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-2nd District, who just took office this month.
Trains and planes, too
Also announced by the U.S. DOT Friday as part of the Investing in America program were a number of grant programs for railroads, administered by the Federal Railroad Administration.
While no programs for the state were announced, projects “identified for future federal investment” include $500,000 for the Downeaster Corridor. The Amtrak Downeaster runs from Boston to Brunswick, Maine, and includes stops in Dover, Durham and Exeter.
If the money is allocated, it would extend the line to Rockland, Maine, add frequencies to the schedule, reduce travel times and make technology improvements to make it easier for passengers to connect between the Downeaster and other Amtrak services in Boston (where the Downeaster serves a different station from all other Amtrak routes).
Step 1 would be for the corridor sponsor, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, to develop a scope, schedule, and cost estimate for preparing, completing, or documenting its service development plan, according to Friday’s announcement.
Airports in Nashua, Manchester and 11 other New Hampshire communities are in line to share more than $35 million through the Airport Infrastructure Grants program, some $10.2 million of which has been awarded.
The program, funded by BIL, allocates a certain amount, but only awards the money when the project is approved. Money allocated for New Hampshire airports is:
- Manchester-Boston Regional, $4,586,525
- Portsmouth International at Pease, $1,431,749
- Lebanon Municipal, $1,006,720
- Boire Field (Nashua), $294,000
- Dillant/Hopkins (Keene), $294,000
- Laconia Municipal, $294,000
- Claremont Municipal, $144,000
- Concord Municipal , $144,000,
- Dean Memorial (Haverhill), $113,000
- Parlin Field (Newport), $144,000
- Skyhaven (Rochester), $144,000
- Mount Washington Regional (Whitefield), $144,000
- Berlin Regional, $113,000.
The funding for all the programs announced this week “supports state and locally led projects of all kinds,” the news release said. It adds to the more than 72,000 BIL-funded projects moving forward nationwide “and the pipeline of projects that will be delivered in the coming years and decades.”
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the $5 billion in grant announcements is “a big deal.”
“When President Biden took office four years ago, he immediately faced some of the most profound and wide-ranging transportation crises in the modern era,” Buttigieg said in a news release that linked to six separate announcements. “Through his leadership, this administration passed a sweeping investment in our nation’s infrastructure unlike anything since the Eisenhower years — and did so with the support of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.”
Overall, Friday’s announcements included programs to:
- Improve passenger and freight rail safety and strengthen supply chains across 41 states with $1.1 billion in funding for 123 highway-rail and pathway-rail grade crossing improvement projects.
- Strengthen intercity passenger rail service on six routes across the country with more than $146 million in funding through FRA’s Restoration and Enhancement Grants Program.
- Reconnect communities that were cut off by past transportation infrastructure decisions with $544 million in funding for 81 projects in 31 states focused on restoring access to employment, education, healthcare, recreation, and fostering equitable development for under-resourced communities.
- Invest in critical surface transportation infrastructure projects with significant local or regional impacts with $1.3 billion in funding for 109 projects through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program.
- Continue modernizing critical airport infrastructure and systems across the country with $332 million in funding or 171 projects through the AIG program.
- Improve and expand surface transportation infrastructure in rural communities with $785 million in funding for 24 projects designed to increase connectivity, improve the safety and reliability of the movement of people and freight, and generate local and regional economic growth.
Continue expanding zero-emission EV Charging and refueling infrastructure nationwide with $635 million in funding for 49 projects that will deploy more than 11,500 EV charging ports and hydrogen and natural gas fueling infrastructure along corridors and in communities across 27 states, four Federally Recognized Tribes, and the District of Columbia.