When heading to work, many drivers take for granted one the key elements of how they get there – the road beneath them.

A group of New Hampshire organizations have come together to form “A Safer Road to Tomorrow” to increase public knowledge of what goes into the pavement.

Gary Abbott, executive vice president of the New Hampshire Associated General Contractors, a group based in Bow, said his organization became a part of the effort to focus on the safety of the state’s residents.

“It’s a coalition of groups, and all of them have one thing in common – how important roads are to the economy, to safety and to tourism,” said Abbott. “It becomes very easy to take for granted our road system. It’s very important that people undertand this.”

The General Contractors have teamed up with the Safety and Health Council, New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association, New Hampshire Good Roads Association and the chiefs of police to form the A Safer Roads to Tomorrow initiative.

Every quarter, the group puts out a newsletter that goes to all of the road agents as well as the Legislature talking about the condition of the state’s roads. In addition, they also put out a DVD talking about roads and bridges, as well as other literature on the subject.

Andrea Johnson, the group’s public relations coordinator, said money is the key issue for the condition of the roads.

“We’re just not having the funding to fix them. We just can’t keep up with the maintenance,” she said “There won’t be a lot of new roads and bridges, and we can’t keep up with the current roads.”

Abbott said that in the past, the Department of Transportation has had a fund with extra money that could be used for unexpected damage done to roads.

“The reserve has completely gone away this summer,” said Abbott. “If we have a flood or a heavy winter, what they have to do is cut other projects they plan to do. The average citizen won’t really be aware of it until a road can’t be fixed.”

A Safer Road’s goal is to appeal to government officials to come up with a solution to make sure the funding is there for road construction.

“We knew this was not a short project just to get the word out and be concerned,” said Abbott. “Our goal is that our elected officials come up with a clear plan that will last longterm.” Abbott said the problem is at a federal level as well, and also due to the increasing costs of supplies accompanied by the decreasing revenues because of the economic state.

The state’s roads aren’t just important for safety reasons, but financial ones as well.

“Having good roads is a major part of the state’s economy and the future,” said Abbott.

Johnson said many residents wouldn’t realize the importance of paying attention to the condition of the highways and streets until it was too late.

“I think the biggest thing, is it’s the next generations. It we don’t fix these, it’ll take twice as long to get somewhere,” said Johnson. “You don’t really think about it every day how much it would impact them. If their road was closed, they’d be calling every day.”