All eleven members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation have signed a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in hopes of winning a major grant for the Cape Cod bridges replacement project.
The transportation grant, worth more than $1 billion, would essentially complete the funding for the Sagamore Bridge.
The grant could be awarded as early as this spring, Congressman Bill Keating said.
“As we look in the next weeks to months coming, for the final decision on this huge grant … I am highly optimistic,” he said. “I believe we’ll secure that grant.”
Sen. Ed Markey said the delegation’s unity on the importance of the bridges sends a strong message.
“It's absolutely essential that the whole delegation is saying that this is the priority — that this is an essential part of ensuring that Cape Cod is connected to the rest of the state,” he said.
The letter, dated March 19, calls replacing the Bourne and Sagamore bridges "a prototypical project" the 2021 infrastructure law was designed to fund. And it says the Bridge Investment Program grant is the “final remaining piece of the funding puzzle to push forward the phased replacement" of the bridges.
The Healey administration decided to split the $4.5 billion-dollar project into two phases to make securing funding easier. Phase 1 is the Sagamore Bridge, estimated to cost just over $2 billion.
Keating said the $350 million secured in a federal spending bill earlier this month, added to previous state and federal funds, adds up to about half the cost of Phase 1 — which he said was a requirement for getting the larger grant that is still pending.
“We have secured half the money,” he said. “That's a prerequisite for this big grant.”
The Bridge Investment Program grants are administered by the Federal Highway Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Awarding a contract for the design and construction of the Sagamore — a process led by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation — could take about two years, State Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver said in December.
During the same two-year period, the state and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will pursue environmental permits for both bridges.
