Senators announce they have secured $350 million to fix Cape Cod bridges

Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey announced the inclusion of $350 million in federal funding intended to fix Cape Cod bridges.

This funding will be part of the 2024 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill.

This is the first part of funding as this initial $350 million is part of a commitment of $600 million to fix the bridges.

“Securing $350 million in the Senate Appropriations bill is a critical win in the decades-long effort to replace the aging Cape Cod Canal bridges. We will continue pushing to ensure this funding is signed into law and appreciate our ongoing partnership with Governor Healey, the Biden Administration and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Murray as we continue to prioritize this federal investment in our infrastructure.” said Elizabeth Warren in a press release.

“This is very exciting and welcome news on a project that has been a top priority for our administration. I am grateful to President Biden, Senator Warren and Senator Markey for their leadership in including this critical funding to move the Cape Cod Canal Bridges Project forward, invest in new infrastructure, and boost our regional economy. We will continue working closely with our local, state, and federal partners to see this project through.”  said Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey in a press release.

The fixing of some of these bridges has been a hot topic in the Cape Cod community for months now.

The nearly 90-year-old Bourne and Sagamore bridges are due to be replaced, and the Department of Transportation had announced that the plan is to construct similar ones.

Three types of bridge were under consideration: arch, cable stayed and concrete box girder. The iconic current bridges to Cape Cod are arch bridges, and that kind of design was selected, MassDOT staff member Bryan Cordeiro said at a public meeting.

The decision was made after more than 2,000 members of the public weighed in, with the vast majority preferring the arch design, and engineering analysis and historic context were considered as well, according to the project's web page.

But the new bridges will have some differences — Cordeiro noted at the time that MassDOT will move forward with replacing each bridge with twin spans that are next to each other, citing increased efficiency and lower cost.