U.S. Senator Ed Markey visited Bourne on Friday to get an update on the Cape Cod bridges replacement project.
Markey joined Congressman Bill Keating and state and local officials to view some of the images previously displayed at a public open house in May.
Markey asked questions about some of the details, including how the years-long construction will affect traffic.
State Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver told him traffic should not be affected, except on a few days when traffic gets moved from the old bridges onto the new bridges for the first time.
“We build all the new stuff … adjacent to the old stuff,” he said. “And then the goal is you come in over a weekend, put up some new barriers to block the old stuff, and then reroute traffic onto the new.”
Markey asked if the Department of Transportation had decided to build two roundabouts proposed for the Cape side of the Bourne Bridge; the answer was the decision has not been made.
Traffic lights are still an option, said Bryan Cordeiro, project manager for DOT.
Gulliver explained some of the differences between a roundabout and a rotary.
The old Bourne rotary is “a total free-for-all,” he said. “That's how they're set up. Roundabouts are much more defined. So you get into them, and you know where you're going, and that’s — that’s a big difference. So you have lane assignments and all that.”
After the bridge event, Markey was scheduled to visit Sandwich to hear a presentation on countering beach erosion.
