State secures $1 billion more in federal funding to replace Cape Cod bridges

The grant will account for nearly half the estimated $2.1 billion needed to replace the Sagamore Bridge.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is awarding a nearly $1 billion grant to replace the Sagamore Bridge, cementing the most significant funding for replacing the two aging bridges to the Cape, according to Sen. Edward Markey’s office.

The $933 million grant is nearly half the estimated $2.1 billion it will take to replace the Sagamore Bridge.

So far, the state has secured $1.7 billion in federal funding for the Cape Cod Canal Bridges Replacement Program.

“Today is a momentous day for the Cape, the Islands, and all of Massachusetts,” Markey said in a statement. “The Sagamore and Bourne Bridges are the gateway to the Cape, and this federal funding is the missing piece to replace the Sagamore Bridge and launch Phase One of the project to replace both bridges.”

“Replacing these aging bridges will bring immense economic, environmental, and social benefits to the region and the entire Commonwealth,” he continued.

The funds were secured through a partnership between Gov. Maura Healey, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Bill Keating, and the Biden administration.

The $933 million grant is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Bridge Investment Program, which provides $40 billion over the next five years to ensure the nation’s bridges remain safe and operational.

“Massachusetts just hit a billion dollar home run to start replacing the Cape Cod Bridges,” Warren said in a statement. “Two years ago, we had zero dollars in funding for these bridges.”

The Sagamore and Bourne bridges, nearly 90 years old, provide the only roads on and off the Cape.

The bridges are considered functionally obsolete and have undergone costly fixes in place of replacements. Tens of millions of cars cross them each year.

State officials say they plan to replace the Sagamore first, then garner more funding to replace the nearby Bourne Bridge in a phased approach. The Sagamore Bridge is being prioritized simply because it carries an average of nearly 17,000 more cars than the Bourne Bridge daily.

Overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the replacement program seeks $4.5 billion to replace the Sagamore and Bourne bridges, improve the surrounding roadway networks, and address deficiencies in the Cape Cod Canal area.

In December 2023, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Massachusetts a $372 million grant through the National Infrastructure Project Assistance program to replace the Sagamore Bridge.

Then, in March of this year, the senators secured another $350 million for the Cape Cod bridges in the fiscal year 2025 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act.

The call for funding was made clear when the Massachusetts delegation sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg supporting MassDOT and the Corps’ application for funding through the bridge replacement program.

The federal government owns the bridges, but under an agreement with state officials, the state will take over ownership of and operate them once they are rebuilt.

Officials say that if the bridges aren’t replaced, they may need to permanently close a lane in each direction on the Bourne Bridge by 2032 and the Sagamore Bridge by 2036. In the following years, they’d be forced to limit the size of trucks allowed to travel on the bridges.

“From my first day in office, replacing the Cape Cod Bridges has been one of my top priorities for our region, and this grant is the culmination of over a decade of that work,” Keating said in a statement.

“The question is no longer about how to fund the replacement of the Sagamore Bridge but when shovels will go in the ground to build it,” he continued. “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.”