BOURNE, Mass. — It’s a popular New England summer getaway: the beaches, the restaurants — and the traffic. Cape Cod’s iconic summers are often met with deadlock traffic on the Sagamore and Bourne bridges. The aging infrastructure has made them a top priority to be replaced, and when they are, more efficient for traffic. 

“Just know that the bridges that rise here over Cape Cod will be safe,” said Gov. Maura Healey. “They will be modern. They'll be attractive and environmentally friendly. They're going to improve traffic flow. And we're going to make sure that the traffic keeps moving throughout this entire construction.”

This funding totaling $1.7 billion was a major win for Massachusetts lawmakers in the state and in Washington, D.C. The federal government doesn’t easily fork over the cash needed to take on such a major project. So being named a priority was big for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D- Massachusetts). 

“Two years ago, we had $0 to replace these bridges. Today, we have $1.7 billion from the federal government and a commitment for another $700 million committed from the Commonwealth,” said Warren. “We have the money to build our first bridge and to start on our second.”

The money is coming from many different sources:

• $1 billion from the bipartisan law’s bridge investment program
• $372 million federal multimodal project discretionary grant
• $350 million FY 2024 appropriations
• $700 million state funds

“This is a very competitive process,” said Healey. “We know in every state in the Union has bridges that need repair. So we had to do this. Well, we had to do this right. We had to be very strategic, and we had to work local, state and federal to get this done.”

There is no date set to start the Sagamore Bridge rebuild.