'We Are Neighbors Again': New Memorial Bridge Opens

The new Memorial Bridge was officially dedicated at a ceremony on Thursday morning on the New Hampshire side of the span just before noon when former Portsmouth Mayor Eileen Foley cut the red ribbon 90 years after she performed the same honors for the original span in 1923.

Foley, 95, arrived at the bridge with family members in a golf cart at around 11:45 a.m. With a large crowd of media and Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine residents around her, she got out of the golf cart and used a golden pair of scissors to cut the ribbon. Foley and her family members then drove across the new $90 million bridge as hundreds of people walked behind her.

The bridge initially opened to only pedestrians and bicyclists, but it opened to motor vehicle traffic around 2 p.m. after the crowd had dispersed.

The bridge opening ceremony, which took place more than two years after the original Memorial Bridge was closed, featured everything from bagpipers, the Portsmouth Police Honor Guard and music by the Portsmouth Brassworks band.

Numerous officials, including U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, were on hand for the event. Also present were Portsmouth city councilors, Kittery town officials and representatives for U.S. Reps. Annie Kuster (D-NH), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), and Mike Michaud (D-Maine).

"Today we can all take comfort that we once again have three bridges over the Piscataqua River," said Hassan, who described the new bridge as an "extraordinary work of art" that will bring Portsmouth and Kittery together again and aid commerce for both communities.

Hassan also commended Shaheen and Collins for securing a $20 million federal TIGER grant in 2010 to make the new Memorial Bridge possible. Hassan also said the new bridge will also encourage alternative environmental modes of transportation such as walking and bicycling.

She closed by saying, "Thank you to all those who made this historic state of the art bridge a reality."

"What a happy day this is," Collins said to cheers from the hundreds of people who first walked across the bridge from Kittery and now gathered on the Scott Avenue approach on the Portsmouth side. Despite the state of political gridlock that exists in Washington, Collins said the new Memorial Bridge serves as a great example of how people can work together for the common good.

"Congratulations to everyone who made this great project possible," added Shaheen.

Ayotte recalled how she loved to ride her bike from Portsmouth to Kittery on the old Memorial Bridge when she lived in Portsmouth and looks forward to doing it again.

Victor Mendez, the U.S. Federal Highway Administrator, said one gentleman commented, "We are neighbors again," as they walked across the bridge. He said that sums up how the Obama administration feels about transportation infrastructure projects and that more are needed to stimulate the U.S. economy.

New Hampshire Patch Community Editor Robert Cook contributed to this story.