The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is seeking letters of interest from contractors in the program to replace the Sagamore Bridge, one of two highways that connect Cape Cod to the rest of the state.
Just under $2.5 billion is set aside for the work, with initial letters due at noon May 27 and a request for qualifications and request for proposals to follow. The RFP will be issued this summer. “For a very large-sized project, we’re moving quickly,” says Luisa Paiewonsky, executive director of MassDOT’s Office of Mega-Project Delivery. “Everybody has to keep up.”
The announcement is MassDOT’s first takeover step in a broader initiative called the Cape Cod Bridges Project, which will replace the Sagamore Bridge as well as the Borne Bridge farther west along the Cape Cod Canal, both completed in 1935 and functionally obsolete: They were designed for one million trips a year but now share about 38 million crossings each year.
Two federal grants are contributing to the construction of the Sagamore Bridge: $993 million from the Bridge Investment Program and $372 million from the Mega Grant Program, along with $350 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and about $750 million from the state.
Sagamore’s eventual design-build contract will include building interchanges with more efficient designs, a crucial element in meeting modern capacity requirements, Paiewonsky says. The new bridge will also feature curbs and a merge lane to smooth traffic.
Most of the design plans the agency publicly committed to will not change. Residents shared that they wanted arches in the design, so the structure will be a type of web-tied arch bridge. But MassDOT would like proposals to suggest other technical concepts and is looking for other ideas from contractors, especially to reduce costs or speed up the schedule, Paiewonsky says.
Contractors will also build some of the nine additional miles of bike and pedestrian paths that will be added to the area once the two bridges are completed. The project’s footprint means 13 homes and some businesses will be seized through eminent domain on Cape Cod. MassDOT aims to have all property acquisitions completed by the fall of 2027. Construction should be nearly complete by the spring of 2037, with the structure to be owned and operated by the state. The Corps is responsible for the current bridge.
Paiewonsky says the project’s scale and the bridges’ prominence have sparked interest across the country.
“Our entire project team is focused and determined to deliver these bridges, so we’re very excited about it,” he says. “We’re ready to go.”
