The state has unveiled its recommended designs for the road connections to the new Bourne and Sagamore bridges.
The layouts aren’t final, but this is the first time the Massachusetts Department of Transportation has identified its top choices.
On the Cape Cod side of the Bourne Bridge, a diamond-shaped interchange would eliminate the rotary. On the north side of the Bourne, flyover ramps would separate local traffic from regional traffic.
The Department of Transportation hosted an open house Monday in Bourne on the $4.5 billion project.
Visitors viewed posters showing the pros and cons of a combined nine different options for the four interchanges. Each was evaluated against a set of criteria related to safety, traffic flow, bicycle and pedestrian paths, and other values.
On the Cape Cod side of the Sagamore Bridge, the state is recommending an extension of Cranberry Highway and a new Sandwich Road Connector to keep local traffic flowing. On the north side of the Sagamore, the layout would offer a direct connection to State Road.
A simulated video flyover of the new Sagamore Bridge showed the homes east of Eleanor Avenue, on the Cape side of the bridge, demolished and replaced with grass and trees.
Eleanor Avenue residents Jim and Cyndi Poore, who attended the open house, would live on the street closest to the bridge if closer homes were demolished, as the video showed.
Cyndi Poore is nervous about the construction engulfing their home, she said. She has a hair salon attached to the house, and her husband has a glass repair studio in the basement.
“Nervous, and also sad, because we're losing our neighborhood,” she said. “Half our neighborhood is gone.”
But they’re grateful to be able to stay in the house, which belonged to her husband’s grandparents.
“All my memories of Thanksgiving and Christmases from when I was a child — and everything's wrapped up in that house,” he said.
And yet, they said they support building new bridges.
“It really does need to be done,” Jim Poore said. “Those bridges are falling apart.”
“We get that it needs to be done, because we drive onto them daily,” his wife said. “And we see … that things are needed, and also they're not wide enough for all these new vehicles. So I — we both — get that they need to be done. We just wish it wasn't in front of our house.”
The state’s recommendations for each interchange won’t officially be the “preferred” options for planning purposes until after the Department of Transportation files a draft environmental report with the federal government in the spring.
The department is gathering public comments before filing the report.
The Sagamore Bridge will be built first, with the Bourne to follow when the state can win federal funding.
Funding for the estimated $2.13 billion cost of the Sagamore is essentially complete, with a mix of federal grants, federal budget funds, and a state contribution.
Construction will start on the Sagamore sometime after the state approves it, which is likely to happen in late 2027 or early 2028. The construction work is expected to last about six years and could be done in 2034.
