SALEM, N.H. — Today's opening of the Cross Street bridge marks the first completed bridge in the Interstate 93 widening project.
"It's quite a milestone for us," said Pete Stamnas, manager for the I-93 project.
Mark Caesar, the state Department of Transportation administrator for the Cross Street project, said the bridge is expected to open without fanfare about noon, after some last-minute guardrail installation.
Demolition of the old Cross Street bridge will start Monday, and end within about three weeks, he said. The demolition will take place at night when there is less traffic, he said.
The new Cross Street span is also the first of 18 deficient or "red-listed" bridges to be constructed to make room for the widening of I-93.
At 338 feet, Cross Street is twice the length of the next-longest of the corridor's red-listed bridges.
Altogether, 43 bridges will be affected by the I-93 corridor expansion — at a cost of $100 million, 18.3 percent of the entire widening project.
Thirty-five of those 43 structures are mainline bridges, or run in the same direction as I-93, spanning roads, rivers or railroad tracks.
The remaining eight bridges, including Cross Street, are overpasses, spanning I-93.
Caesar said it is rewarding to see the construction reach completion.
"People get a new bridge to use," he said.
