After a series of setbacks and hurdles, Massachusetts' representatives in Congress announced Dec. 15 that the first round of funding has been secured for the replacement of the aging Bourne and Sagamore bridges leading to Cape Cod.
The two bridges are a principal economic lifeline for the region, and, in their current state, an increasingly worrisome public safety risk, the Cape Cod Times reported.
The $372 million worth of funding is from a grant application filed by the state in August and will come via the Federal Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant program, according to a joint statement from U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, along with U.S. Rep. William Keating, as well as a statement released by Gov. Maura Healey's office.
"I'm not gonna sugarcoat this, we still have a long way to go," Warren said in a Dec. 15 interview with the Times. "But instead of hitting one brick wall after another, and getting nothing done, we're now making real progress measured in hundreds of millions of dollars, and that's a breakthrough."
The funding for the bridges represents only the first sum in what is expected to be much more, she added. The full amount of funding applied for by Massachusetts, alongside federal, state and local entities, could be on the horizon, Warren added, which means the bridge replacement project could see additional necessary funding as soon as next spring.
"After years of frustrating work, and lots of persistence, Massachusetts is now well positioned to win more federal funding to replace these bridges," she explained. "This mega grant is a $372 million downpayment from the Biden administration and a strong sign of an even larger federal investment in the future."
Replacing both bridges is now estimated to cost $4.5 billion.
The Bourne Bridge was originally dedicated on June 22, 1935, and has spanned the Cape Cod Canal ever since along with its sister, the Sagamore Bridge. For many, the two structures symbolize the start of another Cape Cod vacation.
2023 Was Critical Year for Funding Bridges
Several steps to secure money to replace the bridges have taken place in 2023:
- In July, Warren told the Times that the U.S. Senate announced the inclusion of an initial $350 million for the replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges in an appropriation bill.
- Earlier in the year, President Biden pledged $350 million in his Fiscal Year 2024 federal budget, committing an additional $600 million for FY2025.
- In August, Healey's office unveiled an application plan for securing $1.44 billion in federal discretionary grant money to replace both bridges.
- Healy's administration also applied for $150 million from the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects program and $222 million from National Infrastructure Project Assistance. These two federal grants were closely followed by the Bridge Investment Program, which was the largest share at over $1.07 billion.
State officials are waiting to hear if those grants will be approved.
Healy's application strategy also is backed by $350 million in matching state money, which mirrors the U.S. Senate's inclusion of $350 million in an appropriation bill announced in July. Her office also recently included $262 million toward replacing the Cape Cod structures in Massachusetts's fiscal 2024-2028 capital investment plan, all together aiming to include $700 million in state money for the project.
In speaking with the Times, Keating said the efforts of the joint delegation of lawmakers, along with state and local officials, have tailored the grants specifically to secure funding and set themselves up for more project funding down the line.
"This is the necessary leverage to qualify us for the next step of [obtaining] even more money," he explained. "And if we had failed on this, we would have had to go back and recalculate how we could possibly go forward, which would have been difficult."
On Dec. 4, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced that it had partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to submit a joint application seeking $1.06 billion in federal funding for the phased replacement of the two Cape Cod Canal bridges.
Bridge Replacement Efforts Had Hit Funding Wall
The application came after the USACE learned it would not receive grants of more than $1 billion in discretionary funds under the 2022 Infrastructure for Rebuilding America, Mega Grant Program, and the Bridge Investment Program earlier this year.
After the first grant application process failed, Keating said a joint delegation of lawmakers held a meeting to strategize about moving forward with the project despite the setback.
"The commonwealth at the time, under a different administration, had pushed the timeframe further out in the grant, and didn't put matching funds in," he noted in discussing the last round of grant applications. "Healey came in, and she put the commonwealth funds on the board for the matching funds, and so that put us in a good place."
The twin-bridge project is set to take place in phases, with the Sagamore Bridge replacement to be built first and the Bourne Bridge second. State officials said that approach is more feasible for obtaining the necessary grant funding. Construction on the Sagamore could begin in 2028 under the new funding scheme.
To allow the continuous flow of traffic throughout construction, the new Sagamore Bridge will be built alongside the existing structure, according to MassDOT.
Markey told the Times that the funding is "a preview of coming attractions" and sets the stage for lobbying for an even larger grant to complete the project in the future.
"We have a real opportunity now to make the case that the Biden administration should make an even greater contribution to the replacement of the bridge," he said. "And we're going to work very hard as a Massachusetts team to make that possible."
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