Tagged: Transportation

Parts of Route 101 are closed following a serious accident near Auburn.

NHPR's Dan Gorenstein was in the area; he says state officials closed the road after Exit 2 and traffic was at a standstill.

WMUR is reporting a person was trapped in a car, and that officials were keeping the road closed to bring emergency vehicles and a rescue helicopter onto the scene.

You can add transportation to the long list of issues hitting a roadblock in Washington. Funding for New Hampshire’s I-93 expansion may get stuck in the beltway traffic jam.

Another bridge between Portsmouth and Kittery Maine is undergoing emergency repairs.

Side railings on the Sarah Long, or Middle Bridge are so rusty; they present a hazard to any vehicle that accidentally slides into them. So, the two states are taking emergency measures to protect motorists.

Bill Boynton, with New Hampshire’s Department of Transportation, says that steel Jersey Barriers will be installed along the length of the 2800 foot span.

“It'll be placed along the shoulder, right there, the pretty tight shoulder between the white line and the bridge curb there, hopefully within the next couple of months,” said Boynton.

The plane flown by Capt. Ricardo Fajardo has been around for nearly 70 years, ever since it was built in California by the Douglas Aircraft Co. at the height of World War II.

But as a red and orange DC-3 hugs the treetops and skims past the Vaupes River in the remote southeastern corner of Colombia, Fajardo says he wouldn't feel more comfortable in any other plane.

With the nose slightly up, he puts Flight 1149 down softly on a slippery dirt runway –- just the kind of strips that are found across the isolated region. The DC-3, full of passengers and cargo, comes to a fast stop in the middle of Colombia 's Amazonian jungle at a hamlet called Caruru.

The demolition of the Memorial Bridge begins Tuesday. The 90-year-old lift bridge, which crosses the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth and Kittery Maine, has long been in a state of disrepair.

The bridge closed permanently to vehicle traffic in July of last year.

Weather and barge setup permitting, the removal and “float out” of the lift span of the Memorial Bridge is expected to begin Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m.

“A barge is going to be floated in placed underneath the lift span section,” New Hampshire Department of Transportation spokesman Bill Boynton explained.

He said the span will be lifted off the plates that it sits on and cables will be cut.

The state commissioner of transportation warns that if the federal government moves ahead with a plan to cut $40 million of New Hampshire’s yearly highway funds—the completion of I-93 will be placed on hold, indefinitely.  One portion that remains unfinished is exit 3 near Windham.

Many businesses there say the uncertainty of I-93’s future is hurting the local economy.

On a rainy afternoon—Alex Ray-owner of the restaurant chain the Common Man—shows off his Windham establishment. The old renovated barn is about dozen or so feet from the uncompleted new portion of interstate 93.

Seven years ago, the state department of transportation told Ray it needed this land to expand the interstate.  Ray purchased another lot nearby so he could keep the Common Man in town.

I admit to being a distracted driver at times, but it's not for the usual reasons. I'm looking for moose, but not the kind wildlife biologists usually look for. I'm looking for a small moose on car license plates.

For ten years now New Hampshire's moose license plates have raised significant funds for conservation of both historic and natural resources. Land has been conserved; loons and other endangered species protected; nature education brought into classrooms; historic buildings and covered bridges fixed up along with buildings in our state parks.

This week officials with Amtrak’s Downeaster marked ten years in service.

The train line between Portland, Maine and Boston includes several stops in New Hampshire. Ridership is up and there are plans to expand the service next year.

Peter Griffin is president of the New Hampshire Railroad Revitalization Association. He tells All Things Considered host Brady Carlson about the Downeaster's ten years in service.