NH DOT: Memorial Bridge Right on Schedule

When one looks at the work happening on the Memorial Bridge piers and approaches in Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine, it has hard to imagine that in less than a year, the new Memorial Bridge will be open.

But this is exactly how the project is shaping up, according to New Hampshire Department of Transportation Contract Administrator Dennis Switzer. He updated members of the media about the status of the work being done on both sides of the Piscataqua River Friday morning at One Harbour Place.

If everything continues to proceed as it has so far, cars will be driving across the new Memorial Bridge on July 6, 2013, Switzer said. Archer Western Contractors is very determined to meet that deadline because it will cost them $25,000 per day if they don't meet it, he said.

"We're more or less on schedule," said Switzer. The main thing right now is to complete the pier work in the river and the approaches in Kittery and Portsmouth before winter, he said.

"We have a lot of concrete work we want to get done before cold weather," Switzer said.

Archer Western Contractors crews have successfully used a wire saw and jack hammers to trim the concrete off of Pier 2 and Switzer said they will do the same for Pier 3 and Pier 4 so they can all have the micropile drilling work done.

On Pier 4, Switzer said "we are drilling the micropiles right now."

Work on the Scott Avenue Bridge approach in Portsmouth and the Kittery, Maine approach is progressing on schedule, too, Switzer said. He said the structural steel that will be used for those approaches is being fabricated right now by a company called Structal-Bridges in Philadelphia and Claremont.

The structural steel and girders for the two approaches are scheduled to be delivered to the construction area in August so assembly can happen in September, he said.

Archer Western Contractors' goal is to complete the pier work and approaches work before winter, which would pave the way for the new South Span to be floated into the Portsmouth side of the bridge in December. The North Span would follow sometime during the winter and midde lift span would be floated in sometime during the spring of 2013, Switzer said.

Jennifer Zorn, co-chair of the Memorial Bridge Advisory Committee, said planning for the new Memorial Bridge party is already in the works. But she said details about the festivities that will take place will not be available for several more months.

"I'm working on the party plans. It's going to be a community celebration linking the the communities again," Zorn said.