I-95 crosses from Massachusetts into New Hampshire in the town of Seabrook. There is a welcome center just north of the Massachusetts state line. The Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant is accessible via exit 1. The highway then continues through the coast towns of Hampton Falls and Hampton, with state-run liquor stores just prior to exit 2. I-95 interchanges with New Hampshire Route 101 in Hampton, then comes to a toll plaza soon after. That interchange also contains a ramp toll used by all traffic passing between the turnpike and NH 101. Traffic using the turnpike that does not pass by or use exit 2 does not pay a toll. I-95 then continues through the towns of North Hampton and Greenland before entering the city of Portsmouth. Near the north end, a connection to the Portsmouth Circle provides access to U.S. Route 1 Bypass and the Spaulding Turnpike. I-95 crosses into Maine less than from the Portsmouth Circle.
History
The turnpike opened in 1950 as a four-lane highway parallel to US 1 and was widened to eight lanes in 1976. The blue turnpike shield for the New Hampshire Turnpike is no longer in use, but was similar to the present-day signs for the Spaulding Turnpike and Everett Turnpike. From its designation in 1957 until 1972, I-95 in Portsmouth did not connect to I-95 in Kittery, Maine. Instead, the expressway ended at the Portsmouth Circle. From there, motorists followed US 1 Bypass via the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge to a junction near the Kittery Circle with US 1. This bridge connected the New Hampshire and Maine Turnpikes. It was a drawbridge over the Piscataqua waterway, which created problems on busy days with frequent ship traffic. Not only was this an obstacle to traffic, but the bridge was a narrow three-lane undivided roadway where the center lane could either be used in the direction of the greatest traffic flow or left closed for greater safety. Lane identification was accomplished via repeated banks of three traffic lights, one over each lane, and was the reason for the third traffic light on the bridge. This bridge has since been replaced by another drawbridge with the same name. Furthermore, US 1 Bypass is not a controlled-access highway, but an all-access divided highway. As far as most motorists were concerned, I-95 ended at the Portsmouth Circle and restarted in Kittery. The Piscataqua River Bridge, which unlike the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge is not a drawbridge, was completed in the early 1970s to correct this problem. Four construction workers fell to their deaths during construction of the bridge.
