The lift span arrived by barge eighty nine years ago -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rEd57vmGck
After multiple delays in suggested schedule this week, it today leaves as it arrived -
http://www.nh.gov/dot/media/nr2012/20120207-revised-schedule...
Demolition is ongoing. Main span removal this week.
http://portsmouth-nh.patch.com/articles/memorial-bridge-floa...
Locals bid their bridge farewell - http://vimeo.com/33684834
Sometimes I feel sorry for how blind the general public is to the reality of the bridge world. These people apparently were led to believe that the replacement bridge would look as nice as the historic bridge. Only now, in the end, do they realize their grave error. This project is a perfect example as to why attempting to replicate historic bridges fails. If the community likes a historic bridge, only the preservation of the historic bridge is acceptable. HNTB thinks the replacement bridge is awesome because it is a truss without gusset plates. Great, that just makes the bridge look even more plain and ugly. You eliminate rivets, built-up beams, v-lacing, lattice, bracing, and what do you have left? A truss that is what I call a "Toothpick Bridge." A truss so plain and simplistic that it has lost the qualities that make a truss bridge beautiful.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111130/G...
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111130/G...
This spectacular historic bridge continues to be in grave risk for demolition and replacement: http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100722/G...
It probably doesn't help that this bridge borders Maine... which has demolished some spectacular historic bridges.
A successful nomination to the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "Eleven Endangered Places" list (2009.) The loss of this bridge is a rarity as few listees are actually lost.
See: http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/11-most-endangered/...
It was the highest rated New Hampshire historic bridge in the state according to the Lichtenstein Report.
The Sarah Mildred Long Lift Bridge upstream is also scheduled to be replaced.