State officials clarified how long it will take to replace the Memorial Bridge at a standing-room-only meeting at Kittery Town Hall on Aug. 3, while promising to address the concerns of business owners, cyclists and pedestrians, commuters stuck in traffic over the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, tourists, and even flounders migrating through the Piscataqua River next summer.Save

Keith Cota, chief project manager of the NH Department of Transportation, described how the design and construction process will unfold. If all goes according to plan, by Sept. 14, three selected teams will submit their proposals to design and build a new lift bridge, and Maine and New Hampshire transportation officials will arrive at agreement on a finalist in October. Final state approvals are expected by November, at which point the design process will begin. 

A premium will be placed on how fast the work can get done. “There is a competitive base there, and that base is getting the bridge open,” Cota said. 

Cota pointed to a drawing that showed the three-span bridge in profile.

“For a bridge that’s one 300-foot span, it’s typically nine months to design. We have nine to 12 months to design this whole thing, then we have to get it fabricated, including the mechanics (of the lift). From there, it’s up to 18 months to get the bridge built, floated in, put into place,” Cota said. 

The estimated date to open a new bridge is June 2014, but Cota said the end of 2013 is their objective.

Photos of the underside of the deteriorating bridge helped illustrate why it was permanently closed to motorized vehicles during an inspection on July 27, and why it may not be able to support cyclists and pedestrians for much longer.

Even after spending $1.3 million on repairs since 2004 “to keep this bridge together,” Cota said, there are 20 “hot spots” currently identified. Crews are now repairing 10 of them to keep the bridge open to cyclists and pedestrians until reconstruction begins, or at least until the next scheduled inspection three months from now. But if they get worse, the road may be closed to all but boat traffic.

“Considering the level of deterioration we have been seeing, there is always that chance it may not be safe for any use,” Cota said. 

Using the lift adds additional stresses to the structure, which increases concerns about the level of decay.

“We have operators on that bridge. They observe the creaks as that goes up and down. If there are any issues, we will be out there,” Cota said.

A new bridge will operate similarly to the old one, with a lift span in the middle. The process of building it will also have to take into consideration the local environment. 

There are archaeological concerns—“I don’t think we could build in a more historical area with more of a multitude of history,” Cota said at the meeting—but they will be minimized due to the fact that work will take place above the elevation of the “beginning era” here. 

There are also environmental concerns. Crews will need to build “cofferdams,” temporary enclosures from which water can be pumped out, so that they can work on the piers and supports under the water level. But the cofferdams can only be built between Nov. 15 and March 15, so as not to harm several species of fish that migrate through the river between March 15 and Nov. 15, including flounder, which suffer when sediment is disturbed. 

A public outreach coordinator, who will be hired later this fall, will share updates, field questions and connect stakeholders through events and communications. 

Residents at the meeting asked about the ability of the impaired Sarah Mildred Long Bridge to hold up during this three-year process. They also asked transportation officials to address traffic congestion in the area of that bridge by scheduling inspections and repair work at night, introducing traffic calming measures along Bridge and Walker streets in Kittery, and fixing the timing of a faulty traffic light at the intersection of Albacore Park and Route 1 Bypass in Portsmouth. 

For scooter riders, cyclists and pedestrians, the bridge reconstruction project includes $750,000 to $1 million for alternative transit, which officials are considering how to make available earlier, before construction begins. Preliminary research shows a shuttle service to be most economical, and talks are underway with transportation providers such as COAST. A ferry service, while not yet ruled out, would have significantly higher up-front costs.

Several in the crowd expressed skepticism that officials were planning adequate support to meet the demand by pedestrians and cyclists, whose numbers have already grown since the Memorial Bridge closed to vehicles. A restaurant worker worried that he and others who work off-peak hours would be shut out of a shuttle system.

Currently, only the bridge’s east sidewalk is open to cyclists and pedestrians. Repairs are underway in the area of the west sidewalk. After they are complete, officials will consider reopening the west sidewalk and even making one sidewalk for cyclists and the other for pedestrians. They originally planned to keep the main roadway closed, but Cota said they may consider reopening the roadway to cyclists and pedestrians if more room is needed.

Peter Somssich, who identified himself as a stakeholder in the recent Maine–New Hampshire Connections Study, received cheers and applause for his suggestion to open a new study on regional transportation concerns for the long term. 

“Maybe we should take a little longer perspective here. This might be an opportunity to create a regional transportation system between our two towns.” Somssich cited plans to build a new parking garage in downtown Portsmouth, bringing more traffic to the center of town, as the kind of idea that might be reconsidered in light of a regional system that integrates options for cars, buses, bikes, rail, ferries and walking to better meet the needs of area communities.