Condition of bridges hitting Cape economy
Failure to replace the spans would be ‘catastrophic,’ report says
A new report commissioned by members of the state’s congressional delegation underscores the “catastrophic” consequences for Cape Cod if the pair of aging bridges carrying traffic to the region are not replaced.
According to a report prepared at the request of U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, the 90-year old Bourne and Sagamore Bridges are already costing Cape businesses money and impacting quality of life for the people who live and visit the region.
“Failure to replace the bridges would be catastrophic,” the report reads.
The federally owned bridges are the only roads for the 260,000 residents and the about 5 million annual tourists heading to or leaving the Cape. The State has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers since 2020 to secure funding for their replacement, expected to cost upwards of $4.5 billion. That process is ongoing.
However, due their age and small size, coupled with frequent lane closures for maintenance, the time to replace the busy spans has already arrived, according to the report.
“Cape Cod residents and businesses rely on the Sagamore and Bourne bridges for almost every aspect of their lives. The current state of disrepair of the Bridges is already negatively impacting the communities that live and work on and around the Cape — making access to education, medical care, emergency services, and reasonably-priced goods and services increasingly out of reach,” the report says.
In July, the lawmakers sent letters to dozens of Cape Cod community stakeholders — state elected officials, local elected officials, Tribal leaders, and community organizations — asking them to share their thoughts on the impact the bridges have on their lives and businesses. Their responses were used to compile the report, Cape Cod Bridges Replacement: An Urgent Need, which the lawmakers released this week.
“Inaction is untenable. The Cape Cod bridges replacement project is at a pivotal moment, and federal and state actors must come together to secure the funding needed to carry out the replacement and alleviate the current situation that is negatively impacting thousands of residents and millions of visitors annually,” the elected officials said in a joint statement.
Efforts to fund replacement of the bridges, which USACE determined must occur, have not been moving quickly.
Last year, a request for grant funding from the federal government was passed over.
The Biden Administration later awarded the state a $1.6 million project planning grant through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the president’s fiscal 2024 budget proposal calls for sending $350 million of a $600 million commitment to the Commonwealth.
However, the President’s 2024 budget is still stuck in a divided congress, and that still leaves billions left to fund on a project that hasn’t started.
In August, Gov. Maura Healey announced the state would seek grants for about $1.5 billion to move forward with a “phased approach” to replace at least one of the two bridges.
In the meantime, according to the report, things will get worse.
“Without federal funding to replace the bridges, the situation will continue to deteriorate, causing potentially catastrophic results,” the report reads.