Cape Cod Bridges project gets $1 billion: ‘A game-changing award for Massachusetts’
The Bay State has received nearly $1 billion in federal funding for the replacement of the ancient Cape Cod bridges, officials announced on Friday.
The new funding for the Sagamore and Bourne bridges now brings the total amount of federal cash secured for the project to nearly $1.72 billion — in addition to the $700 million in state funding pledged by Gov. Maura Healey’s administration.
“This is a game-changing award for Massachusetts,” Healey said in a statement. “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.
“We promised the people of Massachusetts that we were going to bring home this funding and get these bridges built – and we’re delivering,” the governor added. “I’m grateful for the partnership of the Biden-Harris administration, Senators Markey and Warren, and Congressman Keating, which made this all possible.”
The nearly $1 billion in federal funding is from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Bridge Investment Program.
Officials said the replacement project will bring the bridges into a state of good repair, lower the long-term maintenance costs, address issues with traffic operations, improve safety by reducing crashes by as much as 48%, and more.
The new design will also have multimodal elements, including shared-use paths for pedestrians, cyclists and people with mobility devices.
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In March, MassDOT signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — outlining the terms in which MassDOT will take the lead on project delivery to replace the two federally owned bridges, and subsequently own, operate and maintain the new structures.
MassDOT is also currently working with the USACE, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on the environmental review and permitting processes.
The construction of the Sagamore Bridge replacement will be fully offset from the existing bridge so that traffic may be maintained on the existing bridge during the project.
“This grant award gives us the momentum we need to move ahead with the project to replace the Sagamore Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal and to lay the groundwork to replace the Bourne Bridge,” said Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt.
The Healey administration is pursuing additional federal dollars to fund other project phases, including for the Bourne Bridge. The administration said it will continue to seek federal funding from future rounds of the Bridge Investment Program, congressional appropriations, and any other opportunities available to fully fund the replacement of both Cape Cod bridges.