Building Bridges

A draft environmental report on the Cape Cod bridges replacement project is now available for public viewing, and state transportation officials held an open house Thursday in Bourne to solicit comments and answer questions.

The Town of Bourne requested the change, which extends the path beyond the Upper Cape Tech high school, according to a state official.

State Sen. Dylan Fernandes said a major rehabilitation of either bridge — which is due, for safety reasons, in the next several years — would involve completely shutting down the bridge for nine months.

Sunday, June 22, marked the 90th anniversary of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges — and the railroad bridge turns 90 in December. CAI met with Samantha Gray, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers park ranger, to hear more about the history.

Separately, the state says it will mail letters this week to about 1,000 property owners near the Bourne and Sagamore bridges whose property workers may need to access temporarily for the bridge project.

Sagamore Bridge neighbors who stand to lose their homes for the replacement bridge, or who will end up living directly next to the bridge, spoke directly to the state’s head of the project at a public forum last night in Bourne.

Community meetings with the state's leader of the Cape bridges replacement project start Tuesday, April 15th. Meanwhile, the federal funding committed for the Sagamore has yet to hit state coffers.

The state Department of Transportation sent letters by mail and hand delivery last week to 15 property owners — 12 residential and three commercial.

The layouts aren’t final, but this is the first time the Massachusetts Department of Transportation has identified its top choices.

With federal priorities set to change under the Trump administration, some Cape Codders are wondering what will happen to the funding for the Bourne and Sagamore bridges.