NH Bridge Closure Presents Opportunities, Challenges for Businesses

For many, it was like getting the dreaded phone call that a long-ailing relative had passed on – a drop of the stomach at once devastating and yet not in the least bit shocking.

Memorial Bridge, it was announced by the state Department of Transportation (DOT) last Wednesday, will be closed permanently to vehicle traffic. A new bridge is expected to be constructed by 2014, although the states of Maine and New Hampshire are still far from hashing out the deal’s finer details.

Citing the need to “ensure the public’s safety,” DOT Commissioner George Campbell assured citizens that the long-awaited bridge replacement project would be accelerated as much as possible, while the existing eight decade-old structure remains opened to foot and bike traffic for the time being.

It was the thinnest of silver linings on a conspicuously dark cloud which, though wholly inevitable, no less threatens a strong storm – both politically as well as economically.

As in the wake of mourning a lost loved on, the coming days and weeks will no doubt grow tougher as the implications for Seacoasters become more apparent. Particularly for Kittery, which relies heavily on car traffic from Portsmouth for visibility and, more importantly, economic viability.

Mariah Roberts, owner of the popular eatery Beach Pea Baking Company, is one of many doing her best to take the whole thing in stride.

“We’re trying to stay as positive as possible, knowing as long as we have that this day was coming,” says Roberts. “As tough as it is, it should really force us to get the ball rolling on getting the new bridge up and running.”

While it’s not as if Kittery’s Foreside and the surrounding area will be completely cut off – there are, after all, still two bridges over which visitors can drive – losing Memorial Bridge as a main artery only means more pressure for businesses already worried about the lingering effects of the ongoing recession.

Still, Mariah Roberts is quick to point out that the recent shutdown ought not be viewed as a death knell; there are, after all, two more bridges by which potential customers can reach Kittery’s thriving business district.

“The big thing that people in Portsmouth especially have to remember, is that it really doesn’t take that much longer to go over the [middle] Sarah Long bridge,” notes Roberts. “And when you factor in the congestion of Portsmouth, especially on weekends, and the fact that Memorial Bridge goes up for boat traffic much more often, it can actually be a shorter trip.”

While she’s certainly concerned for the short-term economic future of her Kittery neighbors, Genevieve Benton, owner of A Perfect Move (located just north of the Kittery traffic circle off the onramp to I-95), hopes her business won’t be as adversely affected.

“My staff and I kind of anticipated this happening, so we were pretty prepared,” noted Benton, who opened her waste-conscious moving company in 2007. “Because ours isn’t really a walk-in business, and because we’ve been fortunate enough to grow every year, we’re hoping we don’t see much in the way of a drop-off.”

Still, says Benton, businesses have to be willing to help one another out, if the parts of Kittery closer to the bridge are going to survive – and thrive – in the coming weeks and months.

“In order for any business community to be healthy – and that includes ours – we need to rally around these businesses and show our support in any way we can,” she says.

Of course, leaving Memorial Bridge open to bipedal modes of transportation does have the benefit of promoting a healthier, more intimate relationship between downtown Portsmouth and Kittery Foreside. Whether that makes up for the lack of drivers cruising over for a bite at Beach Pea or a painting from Paradiso, is anyone’s guess.

Which is why, as Mariah Roberts points out, it’s just as important to reach out to residents in Kittery, Eliot, and other local Maine towns.

“We have to remind people over here who view Portsmouth as the kind of local destination, that we’re here too,” exclaims Roberts. “We have just as good a cup of coffee, and I think a lot of businesses over here offer something unique that people don’t necessarily have to go over the bridge to find.”

Compared to many parts of the country, New Hampshire and Maine – and the Seacoast region in particular – have thus far been relatively immune to the more nefarious effects of a recession now four years on. But with interstate haggling over who pays for a new bridge and how now well-documents, neither of the two towns’ businesses are taking anything for granted.

“Ever since the process started, it’s been really frustrating as a business owner, because you’re just kind of left in the dark,” laments Mariah Roberts. “If this hadn’t been kept on the backburner and ignored for so long, maybe we’d have had a bridge by now.”

“At this point all we can do is focus on our business, try and help one another out, and stay on the legislators to get the new bridge up as quickly as possible.”