{"id":363,"date":"2011-07-28T10:15:53","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T14:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/?p=363"},"modified":"2011-07-28T10:38:17","modified_gmt":"2011-07-28T14:38:17","slug":"memorial-bridge-losing-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2011\/07\/28\/memorial-bridge-losing-weight\/","title":{"rendered":"Memorial Bridge Losing Weight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After years of hanging together with the civil engineering equivalent of duct tape and hope, Memorial Bridge, connecting Portsmouth to Kittery, Maine,\u00a0is finally closed for good.\u00a0 At least as far as drivers are concerned, anyway.\u00a0 The New Hampshire Department of Transportation has been keeping its fingers crossed, hoping the 88-year old bridge would hold up under the weight of vehicle traffic for just one more year.\u00a0 But the results of a recent safety inspection put the kybosh to that idea.\u00a0 <a title=\"Memorial Bridge closed to traffic for good: Won't reopen until replacement structure is in place\" href=\"http:\/\/www.fosters.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20110728\/GJNEWS_01\/707289704\" target=\"_blank\">In\u00a0a story for\u00a0<em>Foster&#8217;s Daily Democrat<\/em><\/a>, Scott Kinney\u00a0gives\u00a0a rundown of the wear-and-tear:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Among the inadequacies of the failing bridge are 10 gusset plates DOT lead inspector Dave Powelson described as &#8220;in critical need&#8221; and another 10 that were of concern. Gusset plates are thick sheets of steel used to connect beams and girders to columns or to connect truss members and are integral to bridge&#8217;s ability to bear weight.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Memorial Bridge is one of three main routes running between Kittery and Portsmouth.\u00a0\u00a0The two economies are heavily integrated, especially with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard located in Kittery.\u00a0 And Memorial Bridge is popular mainly for the easy access it provides to the outlet stores in Kittery.\u00a0 Pedestrians and bicyclists\u00a0will still be able to cross the bridge&#8211;presumably without engaging in the nervous weight-limit\u00a0calculus of passengers squished into an overcrowded elevator.\u00a0 In the meantime, Kinney reports construction on a new bridge could be moved up to late November, rather than next July as planned.\u00a0 In the meantime, he quotes Portsmouth Mayor Tom Ferrini on possible the possible economic effects of the closure,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;This afternoon&#8217;s news about the status of the bridge made protecting the jobs it creates no less vital, but made the need for its replacement far more urgent&#8230;We cannot risk any future delays hindering the replacement of the Memorial Bridge and jeopardizing local jobs.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_364\"  class=\"wp-caption module image center\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-364\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2011\/07\/28\/memorial-bridge-losing-weight\/4051381319_ea77e104ed_b\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-364\" title=\"Memorial Bridge\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2011\/07\/4051381319_ea77e104ed_b-620x413.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2011\/07\/4051381319_ea77e104ed_b-620x413.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2011\/07\/4051381319_ea77e104ed_b-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2011\/07\/4051381319_ea77e104ed_b-220x146.jpg 220w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2011\/07\/4051381319_ea77e104ed_b.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">cmh2315fl \/ Flickr<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">After 88 years, the rickety old Memorial Bridge is set for demolition--sooner rather than later.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After years of hanging together with the civil engineering equivalent of duct tape and hope, Memorial Bridge, connecting Portsmouth to Kittery, Maine,\u00a0is finally closed for good.\u00a0 At least as far as drivers are concerned, anyway.\u00a0 The New Hampshire Department of Transportation has been keeping its fingers crossed, hoping the 88-year old bridge would hold up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[55],"tags":[35,500,496,508],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363\/revisions\/369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}