The Portsmouth Traffic Circle is a four-point
rotary in the city of
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 ...
.
Description
The southern exit of the circle provides access to
Interstate 95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...
north and south, although only northbound I-95 traffic enters here. The eastern and northern exits are part of the
U.S. Route 1 Bypass, and the western exit marks the eastern end of
U.S. Route 4
U.S. Route 4 (US 4) is a long United States highway that runs from East Greenbush, New York, in the west to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the east, traversing Vermont.
In New York, US 4 is signed North-South to reflect its alignment in the s ...
, as well as the southern terminus of
NH Route 16
New Hampshire Route 16 (NH 16) is a , north–south state highway in New Hampshire, United States, the main road connecting the Seacoast region to the Lakes Region and the White Mountains. Much of its length is close to the border with Maine. ...
and the
Spaulding Turnpike
The Spaulding Turnpike is a north-south toll road in eastern New Hampshire. Nearly its entire length is overlapped by New Hampshire Route 16. Its southern terminus is at the Portsmouth Traffic Circle (Interstate 95 / U.S. Route 1 Bypass) in Por ...
. Traffic from southbound I-95 also enters the circle here after navigating a circuitous series of ramps from exit 5.
Drivers leaving the circle to join I-95 can head south towards
or north to
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 ...
. The circle also provides motorists with a connection to
Kittery, Maine
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 ...
, and originally linked the NH Turnpike to the
Maine Turnpike
Interstate 95 (I-95) in the US state of Maine is a highway running from the New Hampshire state line in Kittery, to the Canadian border in Houlton. It is the only two-digit Interstate Highway in Maine. In 2004, the highway's route between Por ...
, via US 1 Bypass North. The portion of the Bypass south from the circle leads to
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 ...
and the
seacoast region. US 4 travels west toward
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
, while the Spaulding Turnpike and NH 16 link the seacoast with the
lakes region and the
White Mountains.
According to the NHDOT, the "length" of the traffic circle is .
History
When it was built, the circle marked the northern terminus of the
New Hampshire Turnpike, later designated as part of Interstate 95, and linked the NH Turnpike with the Spaulding Turnpike to form what the
New Hampshire Department of Transportation
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) is a government agency of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The Commissioner of NHDOT is Victoria Sheehan. The main office of the NHDOT is located in the J. O. Morton Building in Concord.
F ...
's Bureau of Turnpikes collectively terms the "Eastern Turnpike". The NH Turnpike has since incorporated the remainder of I-95 in NH to the
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 ...
.
[ ]
References
{{coord, 43.0729, -70.7810, region:US-NH, display=title
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Roundabouts and traffic circles in the United States
U.S. Route 4
U.S. Route 1
Interstate 95