After more than six months of delays, the new Sarah Mildred Long Bridge connecting Portsmouth and Kittery is scheduled to open this Friday.
The $160 million lift bridge was originally scheduled to open last September.
Ted Talbot, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Transportation says they haven't yet determined who is at fault for the delayed opening.
"What we do at the end of most projects, this one included, we'll sit down with a contractor and identify some key components, some key areas that we need to talk about."
What he would say is that they’re as excited as anybody that the bridge will be open to traffic on Friday.
“This is a bridge that we expect to last 100 years and really serve the communities that surround that bridge. And of course it’s the critical backup to the high-level I-95 bridge.”
Some work on the bridge will continue beyond this Friday and could require lane closures.
The old Sarah Long Bridge was closed in August of 2016 after it became stuck in the ‘up’ position, just weeks before it was due to retire.
