Rattled by news delivered in the form of a White House tweet, high-ranking elected officials in Massachusetts said megaprojects to replace two federally owned Cape Cod bridges are still “moving forward.”
Energized by a federal funding jolt, elected officials gathered at the Sagamore Recreation Area last week, against the backdrop of one of the aging Cape Cod bridges that officials say is now significantly closer to being replaced.
The federal government just gave MassDOT $372 million to rebuild the Sagamore Bridge. But how’s the money going to get there?
Massachusetts has netted a significant federal grant to put towards the daunting cost of replacing the narrow and sometimes dangerous Sagamore Bridge.
After previous efforts to secure federal funding for replacement of both Cape Cod bridges stumbled, Gov. Maura Healey and her deputies will shift to a phased approach that first targets money primarily for the Sagamore Bridge.
Saying she’s been advocating for funding for 10 years, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent letters to an array of people who depend on the 90-year-old bridges to and from Cape Cod asking them to round up information about how the federally owned and “functionally obsolete” spans are affecting their lives.
It’s truly irresponsible of state officials that discussion of the Cape’s transportation needs appears to be occurring in a vacuum without considering transit.
Beacon Hill has struggled to secure federal funds for the nearly $4 billion project to replace the Cape Cod Bridges, and Gov. Maura Healey now thinks there’s enough financial bandwidth to commit twice as many state dollars toward the crucial work.
Every state in New England is poised to receive an above-average injection of federal infrastructure money, funding that could play a key role after years where the region’s rate of investment lagged other states, a new report concluded.
Public officials fell short in one of two bids to secure more than $1 billion in federal funding toward replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges, projects seen as vital to the Cape Cod economy.
Members of Massachusetts’ congressional delegation last week called on federal officials to get behind the full replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges over the Cape Cod Canal.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommended the replacement of both the Bourne and Sagamore bridges Thursday in a new report, opening up a public comment period on what could shape up as a pair of major construction projects.
The growing challenges of simply getting to the Cape are putting a damper on its real estate market – home prices on the Cape have taken years to recover after the Great Recession and have only started to gain traction in the last year or two – while also making it that much harder for businesses to get the labor they need.
