Massachusetts will receive nearly $1 billion from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the Cape Cod Bridge Program, state officials announced July 12. The program is expected to replace two bridges connecting the cape to mainland Massachusetts at an estimated cost of $4.5 billion.
The Sagamore Bridge, which carries US Route 6 and a bike path, and the Bourne Bridge, which carries State Route 28, are the only road crossings over the Cape Cod Canal. Both arch bridges were built in the 1930s and are now considered functionally obsolete, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
The bridges are owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers. But under the terms of an agreement between the state and the Corps, MassDOT will be responsible for the replacement projects and the state will own the new bridges.
MassDOT plans to replace both bridges with twin-arch bridges based on public feedback and to further its goals of improving safety and reducing construction impacts by separating traffic in opposite directions. The new bridges would also include shared paths for pedestrians and cyclists. Monica Tibbits-Nutt, Massachusetts’ secretary of transportation, said in a statement that the grant money will go toward the Sagamore’s replacement and help “lay the groundwork” to replace the Bourne.
“With this additional funding, we can move forward to bring these transportation improvement projects to life, which will have an impact on generations to come,” he said.
According to MassDOT, the Sagamore Bridge replacement will be fully compensated, allowing commuters to continue using the existing bridge during construction. The arc lights would probably be manufactured off-site. Officials say they plan to sign a project labor contract for the work.
“With this critical funding for the Cape Cod Bridge Replacement Project, we are seeing firsthand how the Jobs and Infrastructure Investments Act directly benefits the people of the Commonwealth,” said Frank Callahan, president of the Unions of the Massachusetts building, in a statement. .
The grant money comes from the Federal Highway Administration’s Bridge Investment Program, funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. On the same day, officials also announced a grant of 1,500 million dollars from the program to replace a bridge that carries Interstate 5 over the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington and smaller grants for other projects.
Massachusetts has so far secured $1.7 billion in federal funding for the project, according to Gov. Maura Healey’s office. Last year, the U.S. DOT awarded Massachusetts a $372 million federal multimodal project discretionary grant for the bridge replacement, and federal lawmakers included $350 million for the project in the Act ‘fiscal year 2024 energy and water development allocations.
As part of the agreement between Massachusetts and the Corps, the state committed to provide $700 million for the project and the Corps to provide $600 million subject to congressional appropriation.
State officials said they are seeking additional federal money to fund phases of the project, including replacing the Bourne Bridge.
“We’ve never been closer to rebuilding Cape Cod’s bridges than we are now,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement.
The plans are currently in the process of environmental review and authorization.
