The rotary on the Cape Cod side of the Bourne Bridge will be eliminated when the bridge is replaced, according to plans unveiled last night.
At a meeting of the Bourne Select Board, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation presented possible locations for the road connections to the new 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.
“I can see that some of [the options] would be really beneficial, in terms of eliminating the Bourne Rotary [and] getting traffic off Belmont Circle, which I feel I'm taking my life in my hands,” she said.
Other potential changes at the Bourne Bridge include new entrance and exit ramps connecting scenic Route 6 to Route 25.
At the Sagamore, the state is considering extending Cranberry Highway west under Route 6 past Market Basket.
Plans also call for a change in the shape of the exit near Market Basket to help vehicles transition to slower speeds.
Board member Jared MacDonald said many of the roads won’t change much, which means speed could still be a problem.
“I think the alternatives all are pretty good,” he said. “Speeds have always been an issue coming into these intersections that are already there. A lot of these intersections are going to stay similar, so I think speeds are going to be an issue.”
The state’s presentation included three choices for the north side of the Bourne Bridge, two for the south side of the Bourne (both with no rotary), two for the north side of the Sagamore Bridge, and three for the south side of the Sagamore.
The Select Board chair, Peter Meier, said he’d like to see road safety improved in front of Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School.
“I mean, this is the one opportunity you're going to have to fix a problem that's been there for many years, where people have lost lives,” he said. “People have gotten into real bad accidents.”
Transportation officials said they’re still evaluating the road layout by the entrance to Upper Cape Tech.
MassDOT is scheduled to hold a public Zoom session tonight focused on roads around the Bourne Bridge, and another one next Wednesday regarding the Sagamore Bridge.
Instructions to register for the meeting are in the calendar listing on the MassDOT homepage.
