New Memorial Bridge Project Hits Big Milestone

Hours after the new Memorial Bridge lift span was successfully floated into place, the usual complement of bridge watchers arrived at the Prescott Park pier to watch Archer Western Contractors connect it.

One of those bridge watcher was actually bridge painter Lennie Mullaney of Portsmouth. She was working on her second painting of the new bridge with the new middle lift span on Monday morning.

Mullaney said she has painted several pieces of the Memorial Bridge from the time it was first closed in July 2011 to the present. She has even painted the new bridge from the vantage point of a kayak. On Monday morning, she was excited to finally be able to paint the entire bridge following the middle lift span float in.

"It's like a giant sill life painting that is always in motion," she said. "I never know what I am going to find when I come down here."

Several other Portsmouth residents said they were impressed with how Archer Western Contractors was able to maneuver the middle lift span into place so quickly after that process began at 1 a.m. on Monday. Others were excited the new bridge, which is scheduled to open to motor vehicle traffic in July, will also be illuminated thanks to the work of the Memorial Bridge Illumination Subcommittee, which successfully raised $200,000 to make that happen.

The Coast Guard was also busy keeping the river clear on both sides of the Memorial Bridge. The Coast Guard will not permit any maritime traffic from now until 1 a.m. on Saturday, June 22, to give Archer Western Contractors crews the time they need to secure the new bridge lift span and to test its functionality.