Building Bridges: What's next for connecting Cape Cod to the mainland?

State transportation officials have invited more than a dozen public and private entities to be part of an advisory group on the replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges.

All of the options involve eliminating the rotary, which Select Board member Mary Jane Mastrangelo said will be one of the benefits of the project.

President Biden's new budget proposal includes $350 million to replace the aging Bourne and Sagamore bridges. But it's far from the total cost of the project, and the budget itself is far from a done deal.

Plans are underway to replace the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges, as we've been reporting here on CAI. Every year there are about 38 million car trips across the bridges, and those cars often carry one or two people at a time. So this made Eve Zuckoff wonder what the new bridges could mean for public transportation and whether they could encourage people to make greener trips to the region.

The state’s plan to replace the Cape Cod bridges could send the new Sagamore Bridge directly through the Round Hill subdivision off Sandwich Road. Longtime residents have a lot to say. CAI reporter Jennette Barnes went out to speak with them.

"Keep your options open," says Kevin Sullivan, former Massachusetts secretary of transportation.

There's no business closer to the aging Bourne Bridge than Dunkin', whose parking lot is practically an entrance ramp. So CAI’s Sam Houghton spent a morning sipping coffee and asking people about what will likely be the Cape’s biggest-ever construction project — and offering some thoughts of his own.

Officials identified some of the properties that lie in the path of the proposed $4 billion project.

As the Bourne and Sagamore bridges age, the battle to fund replacements has proven to be a challenge. Just this week, the project inched closer to "shovels in the ground" when officials revealed the preferred location for the new bridges. But the question remains: how close — or far— are we to funding that effort?

Engineering consultants for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation discussed their recommended locations during a public meeting Tuesday. Another meeting is set for Thursday evening.