UNH is named a Best Workplace for Commuters

By Scott Yates, Media Relations

UNH has been selected as one of the Best Workplaces for Commuters in New England by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The recognition means the university has met a national employer standard of excellence in commuter benefits, offering employees and community members transportation options that can help ease local traffic congestion, clean the air, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Transit, carpool, ride matching and bicycle programs provided by Transportation Services make UNH a model.

“I think that people who have been here for more than three years have noticed an improvement in the transportation system,” said Stephen Pesci, special projects manager with UNH Campus Planning. “The two benchmarks are less vehicular congestion and better transit services.”

Three new federal funding allocations to UNH, totaling more than $1.4 million, will enable the university to continue this success.
The funds, approved in July, are from two USDOT programs — Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality, and Transportation Enhancements. The funded improvements include continued improvement of Main Street westward to NH 155A, the purchase of new Wildcat Transit buses, and historic restorations to the Durham Rail Station. Implementation is slated to begin in 2007.

“We already fulfill the EPA criteria with existing programs. We met that threshold last year. The new projects expand our efforts,” Pesci said.

The Main Street construction will add approximately half a mile of new sidewalk and multi-use trails from the Field House to the western edge of campus and improve shoulders to supplement the state and regional bike network.

This year, UNH purchased new Campus Connector buses that run on compressed natural gas (CNG) and expanded its alterative fuel station behind the Visitor Information Center. The six federally funded 15-passenger buses were delivered in March.

The Durham Rail Station will see renovations of its historical elements including restoration of the visual signaling device locate atop the station, limited restoration of the slate roof, rebuilding two existing wood wheeled luggage carts, and building exterior informational displays regarding the history of rail service to Durham and the growth of the university.

These transportation system improvements are part of larger improvement efforts by the Transportation Policy Committee created in 2001 by Candace Corvey, the vice president for finance and administration, in order to improve the transportation system at UNH and address community concerns regarding parking, accessibility and mobility.

Since 2001, UNH has received more than $5 million of federal transportation and energy program funding. These resources have been coupled with increased revenue from parking permits and a student transportation services fee.

As a result, traffic backups on Main Street have been reduced. Parking fines and violations are down and transit use is up as UNH Wildcat Transit ridership climbed 13 percent last year, the third straight year of increases.

Amtrak Downeaster ridership from Durham has also increased to over 3,500 riders per month, which is a 50 percent increase from this time last year. And, other transit providers, like C&J Trailways, are back in town. At West Edge Lot, UNH also completed the first of three scheduled parking lot expansions – this one using a test of environmentally friendly permeable asphalt paving.

“All of these improvements, the transit improvements, the train, the bus, rebuilding Main Street, parking lot improvements, they all have one common thread and that is to provide transportation options and to make UNH a community which provides excellent accessibility and mobility to all its members,” Pesci said.