'Illuminate the Memorial Bridge' Campaign Underway

A group of residents from Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine, are mounting a campaign to raise $80,000 to illuminate the new Memorial Bridge with energy-efficient LEDs.

Peter Sommsich of Portsmouth serves as chairman of the Lighting Committee that is working with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation Community Outreach committee on this issue.

Sommsich said that when the Lighting Committee first approached the New Hampshire DOT about adding lights so the Memorial Bridge veterans plaque and the bridge towers could be illuminated with different colors to reflect seasons and events, they were initially rebuffed.

When the committee then offered to raise the money to add the lighting to the $81.4 million Memorial Bridge project that is scheduled to be completed on July 6, 2013, Sommsich said the New Hampshire DOT officials said they could not accept such a donation unless the group partnered with a municipal entity or public sector group.

Sommsich said the committee then asked the Portsmouth City Council if they would be their partner so they could donate the funds to the state agency. Sommsich said the council is scheduled to take an official vote on that request sometime in October, but the initial reception has been very positive.

When asked how much money the committee has raised so far, Sommsich said they have about $4,000 in pledges. What they don’t have is a lot of time to meet their goal.

According to a flyer the committee distributed at the Portsmouth Democratic Committee banquet on Friday, the group has to raise the $80,000 in pledges by Oct. 30 so New Hampshire DOT and Archer Western Contractors will incorporate illumination into the bridge project.

This gives the committee about one month, but Sommsich was confident they will succeed because he said many people in both communities like the idea of adorning the new bridge with lighting.

Besides adding some aesthetic beauty to the new span at night, Sommsich said the committee is also proposing that New Hampshire DOT officials add energy-efficient , dark sky LED street and accent lighting that will actually reduce the state agency’s electricity costs on the new bridge by 20 percent per year.

The committee’s fundraising campaign marks the second time that Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine residents have tried to get the state to add lighting to the new Memorial Bridge.

Last year, Portsmouth architect Lisa DeStefano conducted an online petition drive to get state lawmakers and the state agency to add some lighting and aesthetic cables to the Memorial Bridge design, but the petition was rejected due to the cost.

According to the Lighting Committee, pledges should be mailed to Rose Eppard, 129 Daniel St., Portsmouth, NH 03801. The committee will only request checks once the pledges exceed $55,000, which is the first option for bridge illumination.