PORTSMOUTH — The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge reopened Monday, ahead of schedule and six weeks to the day since a vessel struck and damaged it April 1.

PORTSMOUTH — The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge reopened Monday, ahead of schedule and six weeks to the day since a vessel struck and damaged it April 1.



The bridge opened to traffic around 11 a.m., said Bill Boynton, N.H. Department of Transportation spokesman. It was slated to open no later than May 25.



“They made great progress over the weekend,” said Boynton of contractor Cianbro Corporation, as well as their subcontractors and the Maine and New Hampshire DOTs. “A lot of people worked together to get it done.”



He said it was particularly gratifying that the bridge opened so far in advance of Memorial Day weekend.



With the Long Bridge now opened, motorists can travel on two bridges between the two states. While it was closed, only the Piscataqua River Bridge was opened. The new Memorial Bridge is not slated to open until this summer.



The bridge was damaged when the 475-foot MV Harbour Feature snapped its moorings and drifted with the tide into the bridge. Two vertical beams were bent and had to be replaced. A section along the bottom of the bridge, called the chord, was damaged and was “heat straightened” by a special subcontractor from Michigan.



Crews had been working daily, including weekends, to complete the repair work.



“Cianbro has a lot of experience with bridges, and they knew what they were doing,” said Boynton.



The damage was estimated at $2.4 million, but Boynton said Monday the actual cost will probably be less. He said he did not have a final dollar amount, and may not for several days.



Last month, the states of Maine and New Hampshire filed a federal lawsuit to recover the cost of damages against the owners, Sechste Nordtank-Hamburg GmbH & Co. KG and TB Marine Shipmanagement GmbH & Co. of Hamburg, Germany. The owners subsequently filed documents seeking restitution of the $2.4 million bond they had to post before the Harbour Feature could leave Portsmouth.



As of Monday, no further documents had been filed in connection with the case.



The Sarah Long Bridge is New Hampshire's No. 1 red-listed bridge. A project to replace the bridge is expected to begin in the fall of 2014.