KITTERY — The new bridge between Kittery, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, will open in a matter of weeks.

Maine-based contractor Cianbro has been fined $1,000 a day since the Sept. 1 opening of the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge was delayed.

Ron Taylor from the Maine Department of Transportation told WGME-TV that it’s been a “very long and challenging process” but the bridge will be open by year’s end.

Like the old bridge, this one will be a double-decker to allow for trains on the bottom level and cars on top. It will have a single “hybrid” span that can be lifted for passage of tall ships and lowered when a train needs to cross.