DPW Press Releases

Due to tomorrow’s weather forecast, City Hall, the Library and all Recreation facilities will be closed for the day tomorrow, March 13, 2018.

A citywide parking ban will go into effect at 9 p.m. tonight, March 12th; the Downtown Business District parking ban will go into effect at 1 a.m., March 13th.

To better keep residents apprised of occurrences of combined sewer overflows (CSOs), the Portsmouth Sewer Division has introduced a Twitter feed, @PortsmouthCSOs, which will alert the community of overflows in real time.

Update 02/22/18 : Video of meeting now available

Portions of Bridge Street, originally scheduled to reopen in January, will continue be closed in order to complete sewer and utility work associated with the construction of the Foundry Place parking garage. This area spans Hill Street and Deer Street, with closures on the intersection of Deer and Bridge Streets, and the end of Hill Street heading into Bridge Street.

The City of Portsmouth’s McIntyre Steering Committee has met and established the initial “Stage 1” steps in the public input process for the future of the McIntyre Federal Building site. Two Informational and Idea Gathering Sessions with the public will be sponsored by the McIntyre Steering Committee. The first will be held on Saturday, February 3rd from 9:00 a.m. to noon in City Council Chambers at Portsmouth City Hall, and include dialogue sessions in coordination with Portsmouth Listens. The second will be held on Thursday, February 8th from 6:30 p.m.

As anticipated, the City has authorized work on the Peirce Island Wastewater Treatment Facility Upgrade to take place on periodic Saturdays and/or Sundays as weather permits during the winter season. The work will be limited to activities and equipment that do not generate excessive amounts of noise. No large construction vehicle traffic will be generated by this work.

The Stark Street Bridge will be closed to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic beginning on Monday, January 29th. The bridge will be completely replaced and will not be reopen until Columbus Day. Temporary lane closures on the Route 1 Bypass will be permitted during working operations. Additionally, brief complete traffic shut downs will be allowed on the Bypass between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

The City of Portsmouth is seeking public input on proposed design alternatives for the Maplewood Avenue Downtown Complete Streets Project. The scope of this project is to develop a “complete street” design for Maplewood Avenue between Congress Street and Raynes Avenue. This project is identified as a high priority project in the City’s 2014 Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan and the goals are to enhance the comfort, appeal and safety for all travelers along this approximately ½ mile corridor.

Brian Goetz, Portsmouth’s Deputy Director of Public Works, received the 2017 Award of Merit from the New England Water Works Association (NEWWA), the region’s largest and oldest not-for-profit organization of water works professionals.

The City will be holding a public meeting on Tuesday, January 23rd at 6:30 p.m. at the Department of Public Works Building at 680 Peverly Hill Road. The Outer Islington Street sidewalk project between Plains Avenue and Essex Avenue that started construction on last fall is scheduled to be completed this Spring. The City is now considering extending the limits of this project to include the area from Essex Avenue to Rutland Street (indicated below).