(copy of post to talk-us)

Breaking news - pardon the pun -

The lift bridge on US 1 Bypass between Portsmouth NH & Kittery ME is stuck in the up position. Permanently.

It initially stuck “down”, but they managed to get it up one last time for a ship that wanted to exit port, by some expedient, but that killed it. It was scheduled to close permanently, to be scrapped, in just 10 weeks (November, at end of tourist season), with the under-construction parallel replacement-span to bear the same name due to open Spring 2017.

NHDOT & MeDOT considered fixing it one last time but after checking if the jam, a problem they’re rather too familiar with, was a hard or easy jam, the cost for the short remaining life was deemed excessive.

Reference MDOT SML

After waiting a day for a local to do so (after official declaration that permanent closure was effective immediately), I have applied change-set 41726297 to mark the bridge’s 3 ways -

• access=no foot=official bicycle=no
• note=CLOSED - mid section of bridge is a lifted roadway stuck in up position 2016-08-22. Permanently closed 10 weeks early, will not reopen. new bridge due to open spring 2017.
• (except: foot=no, level=4 on center span stuck in UP position; if you’re official enough to get up there, you don’t need OSM to find it! )

For the under-deck​ rail-crossing Way 150771571, v11 I only gave it the same ‘note’ above, it didn’t have access= routing tags, it’s rail (and for special federal trains only these days i hear).

I have also added map notes, one closed, referencing the above change-set on existing center span, and one open, at approximate offset of the new span, referencing the MDOT project page as a TBD next spring.

I’m open to constructive criticism on better tagging … or fix it and share why ; e.g.,

• Should we split the nodes where ways at level=2 joins level=4 ? I could argue that …
• Maybe splitting the rail way at the lift towers; if so, its center span would be level=3, below center lift level=4, above the approach span highway at level=2
• I considered either foot=no or access=official for the approaches. Having seen routing try to jump from way to way if close enough, i decided foot=official was fair. (Knowing as I did someone who died in an ambulance when this bridge was up, i don’t want to route anyone that way accidentally ! Never again.)

I note the retractable section of railroad deck that allowed low boats to pass one of the side spans was never mapped. Neat feature.

( Lest I be accused of strictly armchair mapping, as a once-and-future Maine-iac, I know that bridge well by its old official name, “Interstate Bridge” which is ironic as it was never an Interstate System bridge officially though it used to connect two I-95 segments. Originally was 3 rather narrow lanes … was hell with trailer mirrors mounted in 1970s! I was planning on making extensive use of it in just a couple weeks, while dragging the GPS around the harbor defenses of Portsmouth harbor. I’ll be reloading the Garmin’s NewEngland card after this change-set percolates through ! I hope to add my Maine retirement home to the map in a year or three, but first we need to build it … )