The World War I Memorial Bridge is a
vertical-lift bridge
A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck.
The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swin ...
that carries
U.S. Route 1
U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...
across the
Piscataqua River
The Piscataqua River (Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River. The drainage basin of the river ...
between
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
,
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, and
Badger's Island
Badger's Island is located in the Piscataqua River at Kittery, Maine, directly opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It carries U.S. Route 1 between the states, connecting to the Kittery mainland by the Badger's Island Bridge, and to New Hampshire b ...
in
Kittery
Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The southernmost town in t ...
,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
, United States. The current bridge was opened in 2013, replacing a bridge of similar design that existed from 1923 to 2012. A large overhead plaque carried over from the original reads "Memorial to the Sailors and Soldiers of New Hampshire who gave their lives in the World War 1917–1919."
The lift span can be fully opened to allow large commercial vessels to pass. During summer, the lift section remains partially elevated every half-hour between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. for about 15 minutes. This allows smaller commercial and recreational boat traffic. The bridge is currently the only one of the three Piscataqua River bridges with provisions for
pedestrian
A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically.
The meaning of pedestrian is displayed with ...
s. New Hampshire and Maine designated the bridge as part of their State Bicycle Routes, and the bridge is part of the proposed
East Coast Greenway
The East Coast Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. In 2020, the Greenway received over 50 million visits.
The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991. ...
.
Original bridge
Constructed between 1920 and 1923, the original Memorial Bridge was the first without
toll
Toll may refer to:
Transportation
* Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway
** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use
** Road toll (historic), the historic practice of charging for road use
** Shadow toll, ...
to span the Piscataqua between Portsmouth and Kittery. The bridge was constructed as a joint venture between the states of Maine and New Hampshire and the federal government, and dedicated as a
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
memorial.
Originally, the road over the bridge was part of
New England Interstate Route 1
,
,
,
,
,
The New England road marking system was a regional system of marked numbered routes in the six-state region of New England in the United States. The routes were marked by a yellow rectangular sign with black numbers and border. ...
, also known as the Atlantic Highway. When the New England routes were superseded by the
United States Numbered Highways
The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these hi ...
in 1926 it was redesignated as
US 1
U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...
. It was additionally designated as
US Bicycle Route 1 in May, 2011 as part the first major expansion of the
United States Bicycle Route System
The United States Bicycle Route System (abbreviated USBRS) is the national cycling route network of the United States. It consists of interstate long-distance cycling routes that use multiple types of bicycling infrastructure, including off-road ...
since its creation in the 1980s.
At the bridge's dedication on August 17, 1923, five-year old
Eileen Foley
Helen "Eileen" Foley ( Dondero; February 27, 1918 – February 22, 2016) was an American politician. Foley served as the Mayor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, eight terms from 1968–1971, 1984–1985, and 1988–1997. She remains the longest-servi ...
—known then by her birth name, Helen Dondero
[—cut the ceremonial silk ribbon to officially open it to traffic.][ Foley would later serve as mayor of Portsmouth for eight terms (1968–1971, 1984–1985 and 1988–1997).][ Foley tied a blue ribbon onto the bridge's plaque for the closing ceremony on October 1, 2011. On August 8, 2013, she returned to dedicate the replacement bridge, 90 years after the opening of the original bridge.][ She died in February 2016.]
Deterioration and replacement plan
Because of the condition of the bridge, vehicles weighing more than 20 tons were prohibited. This restriction was lowered to 10 tons on July 10, 2009. A rehabilitation project for the bridge was planned for 2009, pending funding. The project was expected to last two years and cost more than $30 million. It was expected that the federal government would cover 80% of the cost. The rest would have been split between Maine and New Hampshire.
The Memorial Bridge rehabilitation project was placed on hold in 2009 because the winning bid for the contract came in $15 million over the intended budget. This stalled rehabilitation project together with proposals to demolish and replace the bridge were factors in the inclusion of the bridge in the National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...
list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2009.
Closure and demolition
Emergency repairs caused a month long closure in October–November 2009, and a ten-day one in December 2010. Plans for replacement continued to move forward. On July 27, 2011, the Memorial Bridge was permanently closed. An inspection cited "too many problems in too many places."
On January 3, 2012, the NHDOT announced that the bridge would be further closed to pedestrians and cyclists on January 9, 2012. The NHDOT operated an hourly shuttle bus between Portsmouth and Kittery until the new bridge was complete. The center span of the bridge was demolished on February 8, 2012.
New bridge
On May 6, 2010, the Senate Transportation Committee of the New Hampshire legislature unanimously voted to include $44 million in bonds that, in addition to other state and federal funds, would allow the Memorial Bridge to be replaced without further funding from Maine, which is half-owner of the bridge. This plan was contingent on approval by the full legislature, an agreement with the State of Maine, and availability of federal stimulus funds. George Campbell, commissioner of the NHDOT, said at a Portsmouth City Council meeting in 2010 that the bridge was too far beyond repair for rehabilitation. Original bridge piers would be reused. The replacement would look similar to the original span. The bridge was designed by Theodore Zoli of HNTB and built by Archer Western Contractors.
The new bridge was officially dedicated at a ceremony on the New Hampshire side of the span just before noon on August 8, 2013.[ The bridge initially opened to only pedestrians and bicyclists. The new bridge—constructed over two still existing piers—opened to vehicular traffic at 2:00 p.m., first with southbound traffic (Maine to New Hampshire), and then northbound. Additional work on the new bridge was finished in November 2013.]
On the night of February 25, 2022, the bridge was lit in the colors of the Ukrainian Flag
The flag of Ukraine ( uk, Прапор України, Prapor Ukrainy) consists of equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow.
The blue and yellow bicolour first appeared during the 1848 Spring of Nations in Lemberg, then part of the A ...
in a show of solidarity with the people of Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
.
Gallery
Original bridge
File:Portsmouth Memorial Bridge 04.jpg, A sailboat passes beneath the open lift span
File:Portsmouth Memorial Bridge 02.jpg, Memorial dedication plaque over the Portsmouth entrance
File:Portsmouth Memorial Bridge 03.jpg, Plaque naming the bridge's building commission
File:Portsmouth Memorial Bridge 05.jpg, The Portsmouth end of the bridge
File:Portsmouth Harbor Bridges.jpg, The three spans from Portsmouth to Kittery: Memorial Bridge, Sarah Mildred Long Bridge
The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge is a lift bridge spanning the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine, carrying traffic of U.S. Route 1 Bypass. An original bridge by the same name was in operation from 1940 until 20 ...
and Piscataqua River Bridge
The Piscataqua River Bridge is a through arch bridge that crosses the Piscataqua River, connecting Portsmouth, New Hampshire with Kittery, Maine. Carrying six lanes of Interstate 95, the bridge is the third modern span and first fixed crossing of ...
File:Memorial_Bridge_Pano.jpg, Panoramic of Memorial Bridge at night, as seen from Prescott Park pier
File:Memorial bridge portsmouth panorama.jpg, A 270-degree view of the bridge from the Piscataqua River
File:Tugboats and a barge working on the deconstruction of the Memorial Bridge, Portsmouth, NH.jpg, The bridge being deconstructed in March 2012
Replacement bridge
File:Memorial_Bridge_(Portsmouth,_NH)_March_2013.jpg, Bridge under construction in late March 2013
File:Memorial Bridge (Portsmouth, New Hampshire) 2.JPG, The bridge in July 2013, a month before opening
File:New War Memorial Bridge from SW - Portsmouth, NH (2016).jpg, The Portsmouth end of the completed bridge
See also
*
*
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Webcam
view of the Memorial Bridge
of the bridge replacement, by a resident of Portsmouth
US 1 Memorial Bridge Reconstruction
taken in March–June 2013 via Flickr
Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professional ...
{{Crossings navbox
, structure = Bridges
, place = Piscataqua River
The Piscataqua River (Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River. The drainage basin of the river ...
, bridge = World War I Memorial Bridge
, bridge signs =
, upstream = Sarah Mildred Long Bridge
The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge is a lift bridge spanning the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine, carrying traffic of U.S. Route 1 Bypass. An original bridge by the same name was in operation from 1940 until 20 ...
, upstream signs =
, downstream = Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
, downstream signs =
Vertical lift bridges in the United States
Steel bridges in the United States
Truss bridges in the United States
Bridges completed in 1923
Buildings and structures demolished in 2012
Demolished bridges in the United States
Bridges completed in 2013
Road bridges in New Hampshire
Road bridges in Maine
Towers in New Hampshire
Towers in Maine
Buildings and structures in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Bridges in Rockingham County, New Hampshire
Transportation buildings and structures in York County, Maine
Monuments and memorials in New Hampshire
Monuments and memorials in Maine
U.S. Route 1
Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System