The Bourne Bridge (foreground) and the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge (background) at sunrise. iStock photo
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 “moving forward” and swiped back at the federal government.
White House Office of Budget and Management Director Russ Vought tweeted Friday at 2:24 p.m. that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “will be immediately pausing over $11 billion in lower-priority projects & considering them for cancellation, including projects in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Baltimore.”
“The Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to manage billions of dollars in projects,” he tweeted as elected officials in Washington remained deadlocked on reopening the government.
Sen. Dylan Fernandes, who represents the Cape and Islands, said in response to Vought’s announcement that the Trump administration “is now attempting to steal funds dedicated to the Cape Bridge project.”
“Trump and Congressional Republicans couldn’t care less about the lives of Cape and Islanders, and this cut could do irreparable damage to our region,” Fernandes said in a statement. “This action by the Trump Administration threatens to close the Cape bridges, and we are going to fight back to ensure Cape and islanders have safe and reliable transportation access.”
On Friday night, Gov. Maura Healey, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Congressman William Keating responded to what they called the OMB’s “announcement that the Trump Administration is pausing $11 billion in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) projects, including for the Cape Cod Bridges.”
“While neither the Healey-Driscoll Administration nor the Congressional delegation have received official notification about this action, the USACE has currently committed $350 million to the Sagamore Bridge and $250 million to the Bourne Bridge replacements,” the four top Democrats said.
They added: “The Cape Cod Bridges are federally-owned assets that carry millions of travelers a year, and are essential for the safety of Cape Codders and visitors from across the country and the world. This project is moving forward with funding appropriated by a bipartisan Congress and lawfully awarded by the federal government. Our focus remains on rebuilding both bridges and delivering the safe, reliable transportation infrastructure that our residents, visitors and businesses deserve.”
The state officials noted the bridges are nearly 90 years old and are “functionally obsolete” and that about $1.72 billion in federal funding for the project had been “secured” and $700 million in state funding pledged.
Details on projects affected by the funding pause were not available Saturday morning from the Army Corps, but the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works shed some more light on the situation.
“Because of the lapse in appropriations that provide for oversight of Army Corps projects, we believe that our office and the Corps may be unable to provide adequate oversight of all the projects currently in the portfolio, which includes projects essential to life and safety,” the office said in response to a News Service inquiry. “To enable continued oversight of the most critical projects throughout the nation, we will pause and review other projects to see if we can deliver them more efficiently. Once the lapse and review are over, the Administration may consider taking further actions allowable under the law that limit, cancel, or reprioritize resources in a manner that is consistent with these reviews and with the Administration’s stated priorities.”
A Healey spokeswoman and a spokesman for Sen. Fernandes said at about 11:30 a.m. Saturday that the state had not received any new information.
