For Immediate Release
Posted: May 19, 2025
Contact
Kevin Nyhan, Bureau of Environment Administrator
(603) 271-3226
Jennifer Lane, Chief Communications Officer
(603) 271-6495

Proposed Updates to the Section 106 Programmatic Agreement – Open for Public Comment

The public comment period will open Monday, May 19, 2025, and run through the close-of-business (4 PM) on Wednesday, June 18, 2025.

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) is seeking public comment on the updated Draft “Programmatic Agreement Among the Federal Highway Administration, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the New Hampshire State Historic Preservation Officer, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation Regarding the Federal Aid Highway Program in New Hampshire” (Section 106 PA). 
  
This update to our current Section 106 PA streamlines the Section 106 (historic resource) review process by promoting consistency and transparency of project development and review practices and requirements for Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) led projects, and by encouraging understanding among project sponsors of the goals of Section 106 and the benefits of incorporating those goals early in a project’s design.  A wide range of transportation projects typically do not impact historical resources.  This Section 106 PA update streamlines the review of these types of projects by enabling NHDOT to continue to conduct individual historic resource reviews, thereby removing FHWA, USACE and the State Historic Preservation Office from routine project-by-project evaluation activities. 
  
The Draft Section 106 PA is available for review on the NHDOT cultural resources website under the heading “DRAFT 2025 Section 106 Programmatic Agreement – For Public Comment”: 
https://www.dot.nh.gov/projects-plans-and-programs/programs/cultural-resources.  Instructions for commenting are included there as well. 
  
Documents may also be obtained by contacting Kevin Nyhan at Bureau16@dot.nh.gov.   
  
The public comment period will open Monday, May 19, 2025, and run through the close-of-business (4 PM) on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. 
  
Comments should be addressed to: 
Kevin T. Nyhan, Administrator 
Bureau of Environment 
Bureau16@dot.nh.gov