Agreement Reached To Replace Cape Cod Bridges, Transfer To State

BOURNE, MA — State officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have come to an agreement that will demolish the aging Bourne and Sagamore bridges and transfer ownership of their replacements to Massachusetts.

Under the agreement, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns and maintains the 85-year-old bridges, would transfer the multi-year project to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The federal government would still cover the costs of the project, but MassDOT would be the agency in charge of designing and building the new bridges, the Cape Cod Times reported.

Discussions about replacing the Cape Cod Canal bridges came after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a study that recommended the Sagamore and Bourne bridges be replaced. U.S. Army Corps officials estimated the cost to replace the two bridges to be about $1.1 billion. Under the Army Corps original plan, the new bridges would include four travel lanes, two auxiliary lanes designed as acceleration/deceleration lanes and paths for bikes and pedestrians.

MassDot Secretary Stephanie Pollack was an early proponent of the transfer because it would give the state more control over maintaining new bridges once completed.

"This would not be an as-is transfer," Pollack said at MassDOT's director's board meeting last October. "The issue has been raised: Would we consider doing it after they were newly constructed, and it would certainly give us more control over that next 50 years if we had new bridges, over inspections, maintenance and keeping them in good shape."

The agreement was set to be signed by Gov. Charlie Baker, Pollack and U.S. Army Corp officials Tuesday afternoon.