MassDot Planning a New Bridge Into Cape Cod

Jon Cheston reports on a plan by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to build a new bridge over the Cape Cod Canal.

According to Cheston, "[t]he agency has focused on the possibility of adding a three-lane span next to the Sagamore Bridge. It would be limited to Cape-bound traffic, and drivers would pay a toll to use it. The Sagamore, meanwhile, would become a one-way, three-lane bridge to handle traffic coming off the Cape, with no toll."

The MassDOT has hired Boston-based engineering firm Fay, Spofford & Thorndike to study traffic patterns around the Cape Cod Canal, which could inform other recommendations for infrastructure improvements around Cape Cod.

Cheston reports that the Army Corps of Engineers will have to sign on any plan for a new bridge, and MassDOT also faces the potentially even more difficult challenges of convincing Cape Cod residents. The plan would use a public-private partnership for funding to meet costs estimated to range between $400 million and $700 million. "When Massachusetts transportation officials held an event in October for potential investors in a Cape bridge and a separate high-speed toll lane along Route 3, more than 100 people showed up, signaling potentially strong interest," reports Cheston.