The
Portsmouth Traffic Circle is a four-point
rotary in the city of
Portsmouth,
New Hampshire.
The southern exit of the circle provides access to
Interstate 95 north and south, although only northbound I-95 traffic enters here. The eastern and northern exits are part of the
U.S. Route 1 Bypass, and the western exit marks the eastern end of
U.S. Route 4, as well as the southern terminus of
NH Route 16 and the
Spaulding Turnpike. Traffic from southbound I-95 also enters the circle here after navigating a circuitous series of ramps from exit 5.
When it was built, the circle marked the northern terminus of the
New Hampshire Turnpike, later designated as part Interstate 95, and linked the NH Turnpike with the Spaulding Turnpike to form what the
New Hampshire Department of Transportation's Bureau of Turnpikes collectively terms the "Eastern Turnpike". Although I-95 was extended north in the 1970s, bypassing the circle to cross into Maine over the
Piscataqua River Bridge, that segment of I-95 is not part of the Turnpike. NHDOT still considers the NH Turnpike, now known as the
Blue Star Turnpike, to end at the circle.
Drivers leaving the circle to join I-95 can head south towards
Massachusetts or north to
Maine. The circle also provides motorists with a connection to
Kittery, Maine, and originally linked the NH Turnpike to the
Maine Turnpike, via US 1 Bypass North. The portion of the Bypass south from the circle leads to
US 1 and the
seacoast region. US 4 travels west toward
Concord, while the Spaulding Turnpike and NH 16 link the seacoast with the
lakes region and the
White Mountains.
According to the NHDOT, the "length" of the traffic circle is .