It’s official; the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge that connects Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Kittery, Maine is now permanently closed to motorists. The closure is the result of a mechanical failure that occured on Sunday, just ten weeks before the bridge was scheduled to permanently close in order to make way for its replacement, currently under construction.
Bill Boynton is with the state Department of Transportation.
“It pushed up the closing date. A 76-year-old bridge that certainly served both states well but had reached the end of its life.”
The bridge, named after a longtime employee of the Maine-New Hampshire Interstate Bridge Authority originally opened in 1940.
The new Sarah Long Bridge is scheduled to open in September of 2017.
In the meantime, the bridge will remain in the ‘up’ position to allow for marine traffic on the Piscataqua River.
Motorists, however, will be forced to use the interstate 95 ‘High Level’ Bridge and the Memorial Bridge on Route 1 to make the crossing.
