Senator Ed Markey visited the Army Corps of Engineers in Buzzards Bay late on Friday to discuss the possibility of the federal government helping to rebuild the Sagamore and Bourne Bridges. Under a new bill authored by Markey, along with Senator Elizabeth Warren and representatives Bill Keating and John Garamendi, funding may be able to be granted to the Army Corps to help make Cape evacuation routes, which rely entirely on the two bridges, safer.
Markey said he and the Army Corps discussed extensively what kind of work would need to be done, and how much funding would be necessary. The two bridges are each over 80 years old, and Markey said that the Army Corps would need help from the federal government in order to rebuild them.
"It will take a parternership between the state of Massachusetts and the federal government and local communities coordinating as well," he said. "So we began the discussion today in an effort to try to look at some of the options and then we can take this information and begin to make some decisions."
Funding for bridgework would come in part from the Enhancing the Strength and Capacity of America's Primary Evacuation Routes (ESCAPE) Act, which proposes to allocate $1 billion for states to improve their evacuation routes across the country.