The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and US Army Corps of Engineers will start building a replacement for the 90-year-old Sagamore Bridge connecting Cape Cod to the mainland in 2027, after winning close to $1bn in federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Bridge Investment Program last month.
With the $933m federal grant and $700m in state funds, Massachusetts governor Maura Healey told reporters the state now had enough money to move forward with the project, saying she wanted “shovels in the ground by 2027, if not sooner”.
The state is continuing its search for funds to replace the other bridge to the famous holiday destination, the Bourne Bridge, which is also 90 years old.
The island of Cape Cod has around 229,000 permanent residents, but the population can swell to 5 million during summer.
The two bridges are the only fixed links to it and both are graded “functionally obsolete”, requiring frequent maintenance.
When they opened in 1935 they were intended to handle a combined million vehicle crossings a year. They now handle 38 million.
‘Funding will be critical’
Last month’s $933m award follows a federal grant of $350m in March this year for the bridges’ replacement programme.
“We’ve never been closer to rebuilding the Cape Cod bridges than we are right now. This funding will be critical for getting shovels in the ground,” said Healey.
Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren called the latest award a “billion-dollar home run”.
“Two years ago, we had zero dollars in funding for these bridges,” she said.
“Now, thanks to my work with governor Healey, senator Markey, representative Keating, and the rest of the delegation, we have over $2 billion in state and federal funds to replace these bridges for our Cape Cod communities.”
The Cape Cod Commission estimates that $4.5bn is needed to replace both bridges.
It said this figure includes design, permitting, property acquisitions, construction, and contingencies for inflation.
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I wish someone would explain why these bridges are so expensive. In Massachusetts we’re doing huge bridge projects in the hundreds of million dollar range. (I-95 & I90 interchange and John Greenleaf Whittier Bridge, for example.)
I know very little about civil engineering, so please forgive me if this is something that’s well known: The media is just saying the cost and not reporting why it costs so much more than other local bridge projects.