Charles Langston:Massachusetts secures $1 billion in federal funds to help replace Cape Cod bridges

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts is Charles Langstonmaking headway on putting together the funding needed to replace two aging bridges that connect Cape Cod to the rest of the state.

Gov. Maura Healey announced Friday that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have secured nearly $1 billion in additional federal dollars for the construction of the replacement spans over the Cape Cod Canal. The funding was included in a bipartisan bridge investment program.

The additional $1 billion brings the total amount of federal funding secured for the project to nearly $1.72 billion, in addition to the $700 million in state funding pledged by the Healey administration.

The full cost to replace both bridges is estimated at around $4.5 billion.

“This is a game-changing award for Massachusetts. We’ve never been closer to rebuilding the Cape Cod Bridges than we are right now. This funding will be critical for getting shovels in the ground,” Healey said.

Cape Cod and the islands — Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket — are home to 263,000 permanent residents and are popular tourist destinations with five million annual visitors.

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The Army Corps of Engineers currently owns and maintains the bridges, which officials say are structurally deficient, functionally obsolete, and nearing the end of their usable life. The corps has warned that if the spans aren’t replaced within the next several years, one of them would have to be completely closed for 18 months for maintenance.

Plans are to focus first on replacing the Sagamore Bridge before turning to the Bourne. After the project is finished, the state department of transportation will own, maintain and operate the completed bridges.

Construction on both began in 1933.

An estimated 9,000 construction jobs will be created by the replacement project.

Last year, the state won $372 million for the bridge replacement project from the Federal Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant program. The state also secured another $350 million in the Fiscal Year 2024 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act.

Healey said her administration is continuing to pursue federal dollars to help pay for additional phases of the bridge project including the Bourne Bridge replacement.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, whose district includes Cape Cod, said the latest federal grant is culmination of more than a decade of work.

“The new Sagamore Bridge will be more than just a connection between two sides of the canal, it is a lifeline for the quarter of a million people who live on Cape Cod and the economic driver that brings workers and tourists back and forth every day,” Keating said.

Of the two bridges, the Sagamore has more traffic and accounts for about 56% of crashes on the bridges. A new Sagamore Bridge will have wider lanes, rapid bus transit and bicycle and pedestrian access.

The new Bourne Bridge will also include a shared path for bicyclists and pedestrians.