Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Paul Niedzwiecki says the Cape can't wait another generation for new bridges. And if federal funds aren’t approved soon, maybe the bridges should be made lower, and the crossings narrower, to save money.

The new estimate comes from a planning workshop in May, hosted by the Federal Highway Administration, which determined that the project could take longer than planned.

After two previous funding applications were rejected, Governor Maura Healey wants to make sure the state gets federal grant money this time for the project.

The US Senate committee on appropriations has included $350 million in a bill to go toward the replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges. The bipartisan bill, published Thursday, is only a recommendation and must win passage in the full Senate and House. If it materializes, it would represent the most significant funding yet for a project estimated to cost $4 billion.

Visitors had the chance to ask questions of bridge engineers and other project staff at eight stations, each focused on a different aspect of the project.

The state expects to take private properties for the new Bourne and Sagamore bridges — but exactly which properties may not be finalized until 2025.

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.