AUGUSTA, Maine - The Maine and New Hampshire Departments of Transportation have reached a formal construction agreement with Cianbro Corporation of Pittsfield for replacement of the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, which connects Kittery, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
The price will be $158.5 million, which will be shared equally by the two states. The bridge carries the U.S. Route One by-pass. Maine DOT spokesman Ted Talbot says the lift span of the new bridge will have a deck that will lft for ships and lower for rail service to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
"It'll also have a higher elevation and reduce the need to lift the deck by 68 percent," he says, "which will minimize traffic impacts."
And Talbot says the opening through which ships travel will be wider to allow for safer passage and better accommodation of larger ships.
Talbot says construction activities will start next month, with the bridge scheduled to open to traffic in September, 2017.
