Now that the $2 billion Sagamore Bridge replacement project has received partial funding, work is moving forward.
Soon, the state will go out to bid for a design-build team — which means that most likely, engineering and construction companies will bid together, said Jonathan Gulliver, highway administrator for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
“A project of this scale, there's very few firms that could sole-source it,” he said. “So we are expecting to see some sort of joint venture between a number of different firms.”
The department will start getting the bid documents ready in the next few months, but awarding a contract will take about two years, he said.
That contract will be for the Sagamore Bridge only. A separate procurement will happen for the Bourne.
Gulliver said the engineers will be asked to design an arch-style bridge, as many residents have said they prefer, but the state will not dictate the design details.
“This is a design-build job, which means that we are going to leave a fair amount of design work to whoever the design-build entity is that is selected,” he said. “Part of what we want to do is specify enough so that we get the project that we want, but leave enough there for these contractor-engineering firms to come in and really be innovative in their approach and really deliver the best possible project.”
Homeowners whose properties could be taken for the new Sagamore Bridge have yet to receive written notice, but the state will probably open discussion with them in the next six to 12 months, he said.
“It’s not a part of the job that we like to do,” he said. “We try to minimize property impacts as much as we can.”
Upcoming work on the plan for the Sagamore Bridge will determine whether minor modifications could reduce the number of affected properties.
During the same two-year period used to identify the design-build team for the Sagamore, both the Bourne and Sagamore bridges will undergo state and federal environmental reviews under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
Officials will seek public comment as part of those reviews.
The estimated cost of the bridges is $4.5 billion, with just over $2 billion of that for the Sagamore.
The state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the bridges, have jointly applied for federal funding for the Sagamore Bridge, which the state plans to build first. They received word this month that the project had been awarded $372 million from the so-called “INFRA” and “Mega” programs.
INFRA is the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects program; Mega is the National Infrastructure Project Assistance program.
The state and Army Corps have also applied for more than $1 billion from the Bridge Investment Program.
Gulliver said receiving the INRA and Mega grants is a strong indicator that federal officials will support the full Sagamore project.
