The nightmare that struck a neighborhood near the Sagamore Bridge is coming to home and business owners near the Bourne Bridge, but exactly when remains up in the air.

Property owners are waiting for the inevitable seizure of their homes and businesses by eminent domain after the state officially took ownership earlier this month of most of the 13 homes in the Round Hill neighborhood, slated to razed for the Sagamore Bridge replacement.

“To fight them is a losing battle. If they want my property, they’re not going to pay more than market value. They’re just not going to do that,” said Steve Genchauskas, the owner of the only residential property MassDOT plans to fully acquire for the Bourne Bridge replacement. “They might help with my expenses to move, that’s the only extra thing I could see them doing.”

Genchauskas has lived in his home, located just next to the bridge on the mainland side of the canal, for over 25 years with his late-wife. While he’s received some favorable offers for his home already, he says nothing can replace the memories made over a quarter-century of living there.

“There’s so many memories here. My grandson, he’s 14 years old and he’s practically lived here his whole life,” Genchauskas told the Herald. “They [MassDOT] came and talked to me and dropped off a paper that my wife and I signed off on before she passed. Forty years we were together, 26 of them in this house. It was such a long time and I miss her so much. Everyday.”

Along with Genchauskas’ family home, the Dunkin’ at the Bourne rotary and six vacant lots are slated for a full acquisition by MassDOT. Six other residential properties and two commercial properties will be partially acquired. In addition, the state also plans partial acquisitions at the State Police building located at the rotary, Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School, an animal hospital and five vacant areas.

“We’re not on Cape Cod to take people’s homes. We really do try to avoid it. We’re on Cape Cod because we have two 90-year old bridges that are the only roadway connection from an entire region of the Commonwealth to the mainland. Tens of thousands of workers cross the bridges in both directions every day,” MassDOT Executive Director of Megaprojects Luisa Paiewonsky told the Herald.

“We don’t view it as us coming to take people’s homes. We view it as a difficult and unfortunate aspect of an incredibly important public service we’re providing to the people of Cape Cod and the Commonwealth,” she said.

But despite no federal funding being secured as of yet for the Bourne Bridge replacement, MassDOT plans for the property acquisitions are still drawn up and ready to be implemented. The project to replace the Sagamore Bridge is fully funded with $1.72 billion secured.

“We applied for over a billion dollars in federal grant funding in August and we’re waiting for a response. We check everyday on the website every day to see whether we got that grant. That would help propel the project forward,” explained Palewonsky. “We’ve offered to match federal funding if they say yes to the grant. If they say no, it remains in federal hands and we’ll keep trying. When the funding comes in we will be ready to go.”

MassDOT says the Trump Administration’s threat during the federal government shutdown in October to withhold all Army Corps of Engineers funding did not end up affecting federal funds dedicated to the bridge replacement project.

While funding remains a major hurdle in getting the Bourne Bridge replacement moving forward, the recent sting of residents in the Round Hill neighborhood near the Sagamore Bridge officially having their homes seized by the state still lingers. Panelowski says that was another unavoidable aspect of the project.

“We have to essentially flatten that part of the neighborhood (Round Hill) to withstand the fact that it will be a construction zone for a multi-year period. Not only cranes, but huge construction trucks and concrete mixers and other vehicles will be rumbling through it for years there,” Palewonsky said, explaining that the two new bridges, each planned to direct traffic in one direction, will be touching down directly next to the neighborhood.

Residents of Round Hill being displaced are being given 120 days to vacate their homes. If they are unable to do so, MassDOT says they can pay rent to remain in their own homes.

The two Cape Cod bridges see over 38 million annual crossings, substantially more than the one million predicted by engineers during their construction in 1935, according to the Cape Cod Commission. That includes 6,600 trucks crossing over the bridges on a daily basis along with 122 daily school bus crossings.

“We’re there for what we view as a vital public service in replacing these bridges that are old, and their condition shows that they’re old. We can’t ignore such important infrastructure,” Palewonsky said.

There is no set date at this time for when the state will take official ownership of Genchauskas’ home. He says, until then, he is remaining optimistic and will consider private offers until the state comes up with its own.

“I just have to wait and see, I guess. Either way, nothing is going to change the fact that they’re going to take the property if they want to. Nothing will stop that. I just have all my memories here to bring with me,” Genchauskas said.

In total, the project to replace both bridges has drawn an estimated price tag of $4.5 billion. As part of MassDOT’s five-year capital investment plan, approved by the Board of Directors in June, the agency will send $1.09 billion to the replacement project over the next five years.

Bourne, MA – January 16 – The Bourne Bridge heading onto the Cape. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald).