The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are set to begin building a replacement for the 90-year-old Sagamore Bridge connecting Cape Cod to the mainland in 2027, after winning nearly one billion in federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s (BIL) Bridge Investment Program last month.
With the $933 million federal grant and $700 million in state funds, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey told Cape Cod Times 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 with the holiday destination, the Bourne Bridge, which is also 90 years old.
The two bridges are the only fixed links to it and both are graded “functionally obsolete," requiring frequent maintenance.
When the bridges opened in 1935, they were intended to handle a combined million vehicle crossings a year. They now handle 38 million.
“We’ve never been closer to rebuilding the Cape Cod bridges than we are right now,” said Healey. “This funding will be critical for getting shovels in the ground.”
The Cape Cod Commission estimates that $4.5 billion is needed to replace both bridges. It said this figure includes design, permitting, property acquisitions, construction, and contingencies for inflation.
Currently, the design for the replacement is a twin-arch with three lanes in each direction. Each existing bridge will be replaced with twin-bridge structures, separating traffic in each direction to its own bridge, according to MassDOT.
The approach spans will be built on land, and the arch spans will be fabricated off-site, according to transportation officials. The spans will then be floated in and lifted into place.
Major milestones are expected in coming years, including final permitting and entering procurement to select a design for the new Sagamore Bridge sometime in fall of 2026, which would extend through all of 2027.
Source: Cape Cod Times, Massachusetts Department of Transportation
