DPW Press Releases

Recently, the Public Works and Community Development Departments installed several new historic markers as part of an ongoing initiative to reproduce historic markers once scattered throughout the downtown and South End. The original markers were installed as part of a project sponsored by Strawbery Banke, the City of Portsmouth, and a civic group then known as the South End Association. At that time, the project (completed in 1977) resulted in the installation of approximately 40 markers covering a variety of topics from the City’s history. 

Beginning Tuesday, October 9th, paving operations will continue throughout the week on Islington Street spanning Dover Street to Maplewood Avenue.

 The schedule of work will go as follows:

The Pleasant Street reconstruction project has scheduled paving operations occurring this week that includes:

The intersection of US Route 1 (Lafayette Road) and Lang Road has been a safety concern for the City of Portsmouth, the Town of Rye and the State of New Hampshire for some time. Given that Lang Road is a City road and US Route 1 is a State road, both the City and NHDOT worked together on a Road Safety Audit of the intersection to analyze hazards and potential improvements. The Audit identified a preferred option of a connector roadway between Longmeadow Road and Lang Road in order to alleviate the Lang Road intersection safety issues.

On Monday, October 1st, Unitil will be on Green Street replacing gas services for buildings along this street throughout the week. During this work, vehicles must use Vaughan Street to enter Green Street as the Russell Street entrance will be closed.

The Portsmouth Department of Public Works will be hosting a public meeting to discuss the construction phase of the utility and neighborhood reconstruction project within the Hanover Street area on Thursday, September 27th beginning at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall in Conference Room A.

Beginning on Wednesday, September 26th,crews will be paving on Market Street spanning from where the Albacore Museum is located up to the Woodbury Avenue intersection. The commercial portion of Woodbury Avenue will also be paved from Market Street to the Newington Town line. This work, which will include significant traffic impacts, is expected to continue for the following eight nights (weather permitting).

As part of the Maplewood Avenue reconstruction project, Maplewood Avenue spanning Edmond Avenue to Woodbury Avenue will be shut down to traffic starting on September 17th and lasting through mid-December.

The City of Portsmouth and the United States Air Force have recently signed their latest agreement to treat perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) from water supplied by the Smith, Harrison and Haven Wells serving the Pease Tradeport drinking water system. The agreement will provide the City with up to $14.3 million to reimburse the cost of construction of the final treatment system for all three wells, which will include a dual filtration system consisting of resin and granular activated carbon filters.