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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced that federal officials have denied a grant application from the United States Army Corps of Engineers to replace the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges linking the state's highways to Cape Cod.
According to a statement from MassDOT, the state's application requested $1.882 billion from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) first round of the Bridge Investment Program Grants. The application was filed in August to the grant program for funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which President Biden signed into law in November of 2021.
The request finances would have made up 47 percent of the estimated $3.976 billion total project cost for both design and construction phases. Though with the denial from federal officials, USACE, the owners of the bridges, will have to find other means to fund that chunk of the project's budget.
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“The Cape Cod Bridges are federal assets, and the responsibility to replace them lies with the USACE and the federal government. The Baker-Polito Administration is disappointed that this latest funding application has been denied. Despite these bridges being federal assets, the Administration has spent considerable time, energy and funds to support replacing the bridges, including working with the Legislature to pass significant funding to replace the approaches to the bridges and authorization for Massachusetts to compete for federal grants. MassDOT will continue to pursue every possible avenue to support the USACE’s efforts to secure federal discretionary funds to replace the bridges,” said MassDOT spokesperson Jacquelyn Goddard.
The Bourne and Sagamore Bridges were built in 1933, becoming the only roadways that connect the 263,000 residents of the Cape and Islands to the rest of the state. The Cape sees around 5 million visitors every year.
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