New Hampshire is losing a substantial bit of federal transportation money, which presents us with an opportunity.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHA) operates the Recreational Trails Program, a big pot of money from which Washington finances transportation-related recreational venues such as bike and pedestrian paths. The money comes from federal highway taxes.

The FHA claims its funding formula contained errors that gave New Hampshire too much money. It is rescinding its 2012 grant of $677,000. From 1993 to 2011, New Hampshire received $12.7 million from the program. New Hampshire has used the money to build or maintain a lot of trails, including cross-country skiing trails in Canterbury, Hillsboro and Wolfeboro, a walking trail in New Boston and a snowmobile trail in Campton.

All of these trails enhance the quality of life for locals. But they are not really part of a national transportation system. While Washington spends millions on bike paths and walking trails, federal highway improvements such as the widening of I-93 are delayed for lack of funding. This makes no sense.

New Hampshire’s congressional delegation should take this opportunity to push for ending this program and rolling its money back into highway construction and maintenance, where it belongs. As they do that, Granite Staters should work to find private sources of funding for all of the nice trails we’d like to see criss-crossing the state. It should be Washington’s job to fund interstate highways and our job to build our own biking, skiing and snowmobiling trails.