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$25M Grant For Sarah Long Bridge Repairs Gets Congressional Backing

Congressional delegation members in Northern New England are looking for a down payment to help replace another aging span in the Seacoast.

All eight members of the New Hampshire and Maine congressional delegation have sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

In it, they’re voicing support for a possible $25 million dollar federal transportation grant. 

If approved, it would be applied toward the $160 million cost for a new bridge to replace the aging Sarah Long Bridge between Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine. 

In the letter, the delegation points out that the bridge, built more than 70 years ago, has been closed for repairs, and was recently damaged by a vessel accidentally striking it.

The congressional members also point out that the bridge carries a rail line from the Portsmouth Navy Yard, for transportation of nuclear waste from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. 

If funded, the current bridge would be replaced by 2017.  Later this summer, a new Route 1 Memorial Bridge between the two states is scheduled to open. 

It will replace the 1923 built bridge demolished in 2012.

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