CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire Department of Transportation is starting inspections of the two lift bridges connecting Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine.

The mechanical, electrical and structural inspections of the Sarah Long Bridge (US 1A Bypass) and the Memorial Bridge (US 1) will require occasional weekday daily lane closures at one of the bridges.

The inspection work is expected to take two weeks to complete and is being done in conjunction with a study undertaken by Maine and New Hampshire to examine the bridge crossings over the Piscataqua River.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation lists Memorial Bridge, the first major lift bridge in the eastern U.S., as one of the country’s most endangered historic places for 2009, threatened by possible state removal.