Healey bridges Cape bridges
Appealed to Biden administration while in DC
The governor’s recent trip to Washington, D.C., apparently wasn’t all sightseeing and networking with her fellow state executives, but also included some sit-down time with the Biden Administration officials responsible for funding the Cape Cod bridges.
“We talked to several people about that,” Gov. Maura Healey said. “We had a good meeting with our own delegation and then followed up the conversation with the Biden Administration.”
The Bourne and Sagamore bridges, owned and built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1935, were deemed better suited for replacement than repair in 2020.
Since then MassDOT has, according to them, “spent considerable time, energy and funds to support replacing the bridges.”
Despite that, USACE has twice been denied the funding required to replace the bridges.
Healey said she spent parts of last week in Washington D.C., where she was attending the National Governors Association’s winter event, meeting with the officials ultimately responsible for the bridge projects moving forward, namely Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
“I think they understand the importance of these projects and the importance of funding it and really this is going to be about working together at the state and federal level to get this done,” she said.
On Friday, according to Healey’s office, the governor and Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca met with Biden infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu, attended a White House business session with President Joe Biden and members of the Cabinet, and then held meetings with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Buttigieg.
In January, the federal government rejected the Army Corps’ request for about half the estimated $4 billion in design and construction costs for the bridges. That was just months after the government had denied an ask for about $1 billion.
Healey, on Monday, told reporters at the State House that her administration was already working with USACE on the next application.
“That process hasn’t started yet, but our work on it has started. It’s making sure that we demonstrate to the federal government that we have the bandwidth, the workforce capacity. Funding, yes, is important because the state needs to put its own amount of funding up, but you know, the conversations that we had, they were a good start, and this is a top priority for me,” she said.
Not funding the project would still be expensive, according to the Army Corps, with an estimated $775 million in upkeep costs expected over the next 50 years.
The two bridges provide the only roadway connection on and off Cape Cod for the 263,000 residents of the Cape and Islands, as well as for 5 million annual visitors.