Press Releases/What’s New

Street Closures and No Parking in the Greater Downtown Area for the Portsmouth Holiday Parade Saturday, December 2nd, 2017

Effective from 4:00pm to 8:00pm on Saturday, December 2nd, 2017 the Chief of Police will be invoking his emergency powers, prohibiting parking and vehicular travel on certain streets in the City due to the Annual Portsmouth Holiday Parade.

After a successful first season, Portsmouth’s bike-share program, operated by Zagster, Inc., has closed up shop for the winter months. As with the City’s bicycle corrals (on-street bike parking) on Daniel Street and Market Street, the City is “hibernating” the bikes and stations during the winter months to avoid conflicts with snow clearing operations. This will also enable all of the bikes to receive maintenance.

Beginning on Thursday, November 30th, a detour will be in place redirecting outbound traffic on Bartlett Street. Unitil will be working on Bartlett Street gas lines at the railroad bridge near Islington Street. Due to the constrained roadway configuration and proximity to Islington Street, Bartlett Street will be closed to traffic from Islington Street during working hours for about a week. During evenings and weekends, the roadway will be fully open. Traffic on Bartlett Street heading to Islington Street will not be detoured during this work.

Portsmouth Public Works will hold a public meeting on Thursday, November 30th at 6:30 p.m. in the New Franklin School cafeteria to present findings from traffic data collection on Echo Avenue, Farm Lane, Woodbury Avenue and Rockingham Avenue. City staff will also be seeking feedback from residents on possible options to address cut-through traffic and pedestrian safety on Echo Avenue.

Please contact Eric Eby, Parking and Transportation Engineer, at (603) 766-1415 or ebeby@cityofportsmouth.com with any questions. 

Core Values in Portsmouth Schools

Over the last few weeks we have met with groups of parents, staff, and students to engage in a discussion about how we as a school system celebrate diversity and address any incidents where students, families or staff do not feel welcome in our school community.

Reference:Recent Car Break-ins

The Portsmouth Police Department is currently investigating numerous car break-ins that have occurred throughout the City in recent weeks. Many of the acts are believed to have been committed by a group specifically targeting parking lots of gyms, athletic facilities and commercial buildings. Entry is generally made by breaking a window in the vehicle and they are specifically looking for driver’s licenses, credit cards, and checkbooks.