MassDOT plans to replace Cape Cod's Sagamore Bridge with two three-lane spans, impacting local businesses and homes. The new bridges will accommodate sea level rise and enhance connectivity. Construction set to begin in late 2027 or early 2028.
Photo courtesy of Mass.gov
Sagamore Bridge
There was a line of people waiting at noon on Nov. 18 to get into the gymnasium at the Bourne, Mass., Veterans Memorial Center to see the state's recommended designs for the new Bourne and Sagamore bridges in Cape Cod.
Although the layouts are not yet finalized, the designs are the top choices of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT).
On display inside the gym were aerial photographs of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges, as well as close-ups of interchanges and approaches, state highways and feeder roads, and the areas that will be impacted by preliminary designs for the new bridges leading onto Cape Cod.
While still in the preliminary stages, the information was designed to show people how the Sagamore and Bourne bridge plans are shaping up, and also give folks an opportunity to ask questions and submit comments of their own.
Bryan Cordeiro, a project manager of MassDOT's Cape Cod Bridges Program, told the Times that the displays, photos and graphics were meant to show the different options associated with the bridge replacements.
On the Cape Cod side of the Bourne Bridge, a diamond-shaped interchange would eliminate the rotary, while flyover ramps on the north side would separate local traffic from regional traffic.
At the site of the current Sagamore Bridge to the north, MassDOT is recommending an extension of Cranberry Highway and a new Sandwich Road Connector to keep local traffic flowing. The proposed layout also offers a direct connection to State Road on the north side of the bridge, according to the state agency.
Both bridge projects are being advanced as one program because the federal government grades applications based on how project-ready the program is, Cordeiro explained.
The work will be broken down into distinct phases, with the Sagamore Bridge replacement slated to be built first because the state has almost completed procuring the money to erect the structure, likely to cost approximately $2.13 billion via a mix of federal grants, budget funds and a state contribution.
The Bourne Bridge will be constructed when MassDOT can win the necessary federal funding.
Sagamore Bridge Set to Be Replaced With Two Spans
The current 40-ft.-wide Sagamore Bridge carries four lanes of U.S. Highway 6 between Cape Cod and the mainland, with two eastbound lanes and two westbound lanes.
In contrast, each new bridge will be 54 ft. wide, one of which will have a path for pedestrians and cyclists using the 135-mi.-long Claire Saltonstall Bikeway, linking Boston to Cape Cod.
The two new spans also will be built just to the west of the older structure and their bridge piers will be on the edge of the canal rather than in the canal itself.
Additionally, the Cape Cod Times reported, the current bridge height over the water is 135 ft., but the new structures are designed to be 3.3 ft. higher to accommodate projected sea level rise.
One span will be built first, then the old Sagamore Bridge will be dismantled and removed before the second span is erected. Each new bridge will have three lanes with one reserved for exiting and entering U.S. 6.
Several Businesses, Homes to Be Impacted By Work
As planned, Bourne's Market Basket grocery story and the old Christmas Tree Shops location on Cape Cod, both located very near to where the new bridges will be built, will remain, but the strip mall at Market Basket will need to be removed for bridge construction. Twelve businesses and homes along Sandwich Road near the Sagamore Bridge also will be impacted, according to Cordeiro.
MassDOT must follow what he referred to as the Uniform Act, which sets the exact process the state must take to give just compensation to property owners, none of whom have yet been officially notified, Cordeiro added.
Comments and questions raised during the recent open house will feed into the development of the draft environmental impact statement scheduled to be filed in the spring of 2025, he said.
The state expects to complete permitting for Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act and National Environmental Policy Act requirements by the spring of 2026. After that, environmental permits and procurement documents will be finalized around that fall to give to designers and builders.
If all goes without a hitch, construction could begin on the Sagamore Bridge in late 2027 or early 2028, the Times noted, and likely take six years to complete.
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