After setbacks and hurdles, lawmakers announced Friday the first round of funding has been secured for the replacement of the aging Bourne and Sagamore bridges, a principal economic lifeline for the region, and, in their current state, an increasingly worrisome public safety risk.
The $372 million of funding is from a grant application filed by the state in August — part of the Federal Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant program — lawmakers said in a joint statement released by U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, along with U.S. Rep. William Keating, as well as a statement released by Gov. Maura Healey’s office.
“I’m not gonna sugarcoat this, we still have a long way to go,” Warren said in a Friday interview with the Times. “But instead of hitting one brick wall after another, and getting nothing done, we’re now making real progress measured in hundreds of millions of dollars, and that’s a breakthrough.”
The funding represents only the first sum in what is expected to be much more, Warren said. The full amount of funding applied for by the commonwealth alongside federal, state and local entities could be on the horizon, Warren said, which means the bridge replacement project could see more necessary funding as soon as the upcoming spring.
“After years of frustrating work, and lots of persistence, Massachusetts is now well positioned to win more federal funding to replace these bridges,” Warren said. “This mega grant is a $372 million down payment from the Biden administration and a strong sign of an even larger federal investment in the future.”
Replacing both bridges is now estimated to cost $4.5 billion.
“This is a huge win for Team Massachusetts,” Healey said in the statement. “We are thrilled that our first application was a success, and we are optimistic that we are in a strong position to bring home the remaining funding.”
Funds and grant applications
In July, Warren told the Times the U.S. Senate announced the inclusion of an initial $350 million for the replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges in an appropriation bill. And in March, President Joe Biden pledged $350 million in his FY24 federal budget, committing an additional $600 million for the following year.
Healey’s office announced on Aug. 14 an application plan for securing $1.44 billion in federal discretionary grant money to replace both bridges.
The Healey administration applied for $150 million from the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects program and $222 million from National Infrastructure Project Assistance. These two grants were closely followed by the Bridge Investment Program, which was the largest share at over $1.07 billion.
State officials are waiting to hear if those grants will be approved.
The administration’s application strategy is also backed by $350 million in matching state money, which mirrors the U.S. Senate’s inclusion of $350 million in an appropriation bill announced in July. The Healey-Driscoll Administration recently included $262 million toward replacing the bridges in the state’s fiscal 2024-2028 capital investment plan, all together aiming to include $700 million in state money for the project.
Keating told the Times on Friday the efforts of the joint delegation of lawmakers, along with state and local officials, have tailored the grants specifically designed to secure funding and set themselves up for more money for the project down the line.
“This is the necessary leverage to qualify us for the next step of even more money,” Keating said. “And if we had failed on this, we would have to go back and recalculate how we could possibly go forward, which would have been difficult.”
On Dec. 4, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced a joint application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeking $1.06 billion in federal funding for the phased replacement of the two Cape Cod Canal bridges.
Sagamore, Bourne bridges replacements hit a funding wall
Earlier this year, the project hit a wall when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers learned it would not receive grants of more than $1 billion in discretionary funds under the 2022 Infrastructure for Rebuilding America, Mega Grant Program and the Bridge Investment Program.
After the first grant application process failed, Keating said a joint delegation of lawmakers held a meeting to strategize about moving forward with the project despite the setback.
“The commonwealth at the time, under a different administration, had pushed the timeframe further out in the grant, and didn’t put matching funds in,” Keating said of the last round of grant applications. “Healey came in, and she put the commonwealth funds on the board for the matching funds, and so that put us in a good place.”
The project is set to take place in phases, with the Sagamore Bridge replacement going first and the Bourne Bridge second. Officials said that approach is more feasible for obtaining the necessary grant funding.
Construction on the Sagamore could begin in 2028 under the new funding scheme. To allow the continuous flow of traffic throughout construction, the new Sagamore Bridge will be built alongside the existing bridge, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Markey told the Times on Friday the funding is “a preview of coming attractions” and sets the stage for lobbying for an even larger grant to complete the project in the future.
“We have a real opportunity now to make the case that the Biden administration should make an even greater contribution to the replacement of the bridge,” Markey said. “And we’re going to work very hard as a Massachusetts team to make that possible.”
Walker Armstrong reports on all things Cape and Islands, primarily focusing on courts, transportation and the Joint Base Cape Cod military base. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter:@jd__walker.
Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Here are our subscription plans.
