Interstate 95 in New Hampshire - History

History

The turnpike opened in 1950 as a four-lane highway parallel to U.S. 1, and was widened to eight lanes in 1976. The blue turnpike shield for the New Hampshire Turnpike is no longer in use, but was similar to the present-day signs for the Spaulding Turnpike and Everett Turnpike.

From its designation in 1957 until 1972, I-95 in Portsmouth did not connect to I-95 in Kittery, Maine. Instead, the expressway ended at the Portsmouth Circle. From there motorists had to use the US 1 Bypass and go over the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge to the junction near the Kittery Circle with U.S. 1. This bridge was what connected the New Hampshire and Maine Turnpikes. It is a drawbridge over the Piscataqua waterway, which would create an obvious problem. Not only would this be an obstacle to traffic, but the bridge was a narrow three-lane undivided roadway where the center lane could either be used in the direction of the greatest traffic flow or left closed for greater safety. Lane identification was accomplished via repeated banks of three traffic lights, one over each lane, and is the reason for the third (center) traffic light that is no longer used on the now two-lane bridge.

Furthermore, US 1 Bypass is not a controlled-access highway, but an all-access divided highway (similar to US 1 between Saugus and Boston in Massachusetts). As far as most motorists were concerned, I-95 ended at the Portsmouth Circle and restarted in Kittery. The Piscataqua River Bridge, which is not a drawbridge unlike the Long Bridge, was completed in the 1970s to correct this problem. Three construction workers fell to their deaths in the construction of the bridge.