AASHTO Journal, 3 October 2014
Jay Duck via Wikimedia Commons
The transportation departments for Maine and New Hampshire have struck a tentative pricing agreement with Cianbro Corp., to replace the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge at a cost of $158.5 million.
The project to build a new span between Portsmouth, N.H., and Kittery, Maine, over the Piscataqua River is slated to begin later this year and be completed for motorists to use in August 2017.
Last month the U.S. DOT also awarded those states a $25 million TIGER grant to help fund the rail portion of the new bridge, which will be a key link for moving nuclear material out of the nearby Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
The bridge design includes increased height for marine traffic on the river, which will mean fewer and faster openings of the bridge to accommodate shipping and therefore less disruption of roadway traffic. It was also designed with long open spans that use eleven fewer piers than the existing bridge. And it includes a state-of-the-art vessel collision system to reduce damage if ships strike the piers, as well as a mechanical system driving the towers that reduces long-term maintenance needs.
