Sarah Mildred Long Bridge

The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge is a lift bridge that carries the US 1 Bypass over the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Kittery, Maine. The bridge is a double deck truss bridge, with the US 1 Bypass road deck above and a railroad bed below.
The bridge features two separate movable spans. While the main lift span and its towers are the obvious primary moving feature, the second moving span is only apparent to water and rail traffic. On the north side of the bridge, the first non-trussed section of rail bed lifts up and moves south as a retractable bridge, coming to rest on top of the rail tracks inside the truss. This creates a waterway large enough for most recreational boats to pass through without the need for interruption of automobile traffic on the bridge. Completed in 1940, the bridge is the second to carry motor vehicle traffic between Maine and New Hampshire at Portsmouth, and replaced a river crossing dating from 1822.

A replacement bridge is now being constructed as a joint venture of Hardesty & Hanover and Figg Engineering. It will be higher than the current bridge, allowing for more ship traffic to pass underneath without opening the bridge. It will have 11 fewer piers in the river, as well as an improved collision system in the event of a ship impacting it.

The Piscataqua River Bridge in the background carries Interstate 95 and was completed in 1971.