bridge in December 2018. All four lanes of the Griffin bridge were opened to southbound traffic on July 20, 2019. A new merge pattern just north of the bridge, better enabling traffic from U.S. Route 4 and the Spaulding Turnpike to utilize the four southbound lanes, went into effect in April 2020. General Sullivan Bridge The General Sullivan Bridge is a deck truss bridge, with a through truss span to accommodate ship traffic, that formerly carried the roads that now travel over the Little Bay Bridges. The bridge was named for John Sullivan, a Revolutionary War general, Governor of New Hampshire, and delegate to the Continental Congress, who was from nearby Somersworth. Little Bay had previously been spanned by a railroad and automobile bridge, which had been completed in December 1873 and began carrying rail traffic in February 1874; after 60 years of service, it was dismantled in February 1935. Its abutments were located approximately north of the General Sullivan Bridge. Near the Newington-side abutment, the 1873-constructed Newington Railroad Depot still stands. The General Sullivan Bridge was completed in 1934, and dedicated on September 5 that year. Constructed at a cost of $1 million, it was a toll bridge for its first 15 years of use, with the tolls being abolished on November 1, 1949. The bridge has been closed to vehicular traffic since the opening of the second span of the Rowe bridge in 1984. After being closed to vehicular traffic, the General Sullivan Bridge was used by pedestrians and cyclists, as the Little Bay Bridges did not have facilities for foot traffic. The bridge had long been a popular fishing spot. In 2010 and 2015, fencing was installed to limit access to specific areas of the bridge, due to deteriorating conditions. In September 2018, the bridge was permanently closed to pedestrians and cyclists, due to a lack of maintenance causing unsafe conditions. In popular culture The General Sullivan Bridge, although it was not named, appeared in a 1997 episode of WWF Monday Night Raw, when Steve Austin threw the WWE Intercontinental Championship belt (then belonging to The Rock) into the river below. Future plans While the General Sullivan Bridge "is nationally significant... as an early and highly influential example of continuous truss highway design in the United States", its future is uncertain. The Coast Guard regards it as a navigation hazard and favors its removal. Bridge proponents cite