The Cape Cod Peninsula, a couple of hours from Boston, is also known as the home of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The history of this area, populated by celebrities from the entertainment and sports worlds, intertwines in many ways with that of the 35th President of the United States, whose political legacy is commemorated at the local museum in Hyannis Port, where the Kennedy family residence is located.
Cape Cod is connected to the mainland of Massachusetts by two twin bridges, built in the 1930s: the Sagamore and Bourne Bridges, which will soon be retired and replaced by more modern viaducts. In mid-July, the Massachusetts government announced it had received an additional $1 billion in federal funds and is ready to launch the Sagamore Bridge reconstruction project. This ambitious initiative marks a significant step forward in updating the region’s infrastructure. If funds allow, the Bourne Bridge will also be addressed.
A new bridge to respond to Cape Cod's population boom
The Sagamore Bridge, the first of the two bridges to be replaced, is 1,408 feet (429 meters) long, has a span of 616 feet (188 meters), and a height of 275 feet (84 meters). Today, it can no longer handle the increased traffic, further complicated by ongoing maintenance work on the structures and pavement in the area. Cape Cod and its islands – Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket – are home to about 263,000 permanent residents, a number that swells during the summer months to over five million visitors annually.
When the twin bridges were built, they anticipated one million crossings per year, a figure that has now reached nearly 38 million. This level of traffic is roughly the same as that of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, which is about six times longer and twice as wide as the Sagamore Bridge.
From Massachusetts to Oregon, America working on major bridges
With the arrival of an additional $993 million announced in mid-July, a total of $2.4 billion is now available for the construction of the new Sagamore Bridge. The Governor of Massachusetts has set a goal to start work in 2027 and complete it in eight years. However, she also stated that more than half of the estimated cost (over $4.5 billion) is still missing to complete the project for both bridges.
Massachusetts is one of 13 states receiving federal funding for large-scale bridge projects, with $5 billion in federal funds allocated from the bipartisan American infrastructure improvement law. The project with the largest allocation concerns the Interstate Bridge Replacement Project between Oregon and Washington States, amounting to $1.5 billion, which will replace two old vertical lift bridges carrying Interstate 5 over the Columbia River. Other projects that have received over $500 million in funding include a bridge on Interstate 10 in Mobile, Alabama ($550 million), and the Interstate 83 South bridge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.