Cape Cod Bridges Scheduled for Major Repair Work

Visiting Cape Cod can be a joyous experience – unless, of course, you spend your time stuck in Cape traffic, which is not much fun at all.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts announced an agreement in 2020 to replace the aging Bourne and Sagamore Bridges. The bridges are approaching 100 years old and were designed to accommodate traffic from a different era.

Have you ever noticed how narrow the two lanes in each direction are? Perhaps when the bridges were constructed, no one anticipated how popular Cape vacations would become.

The cost to replace the bridges was estimated at just north of $1 billion, but that was two years ago. Rabid inflation and construction delays have pushed those estimates to somewhere near $4 billion.

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The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is responsible for the approaches on both sides of both bridges and is said to be prepared to begin. The replacement of the bridges is the responsibility of the federal government, which has yet to commit a nickel to the project.

In the meantime, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must decide how to proceed.

According to CapeandIslands.org "the Sagamore Bridge is scheduled for major repair work starting in 2025, and the Bourne Bridge in 2029." Reporter Jennette Barnes spoke with Congressman Bill Keating, who said that if replacing the bridges takes too long, they'll need a major overhaul to stay open.

It appears as though bridge traffic congestion, whether due to repairs or replacement, will keep us grumbling for some time to come.