BUZZARDS BAY — In a walk around a gym, Cape Cod residents who attended a Sept. 25 open house could get a good amount of information from stations explaining all the environmental work that has been done to make way for the new Sagamore and Bourne bridges.
The state Department of Transportation hosted the four-hour public event at the Bourne Veteran’s Memorial Community Center in Buzzards Bay to highlight all aspects of the recently released draft environmental impact report on the Cape Cod Bridges Program. The 996-page document plus appendices was submitted to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office on Sept. 10 and is available online for review and comment.
The open house gave the public a chance to see enlarged versions of pages, maps and data from the report and ask questions of consultants and state transportation officials at each station. The topics included transportation and mobility; climate, air and noise; community and land use, visual, cultural and recreational resources; natural resources and environment; and public involvement and administration.
At the Bourne Veteran’s Memorial Community Center on Thursday, Sept. 25, John Hallgren of Chatham discusses a rendering of the new Sagamore bridge with consultant Mike Beintum, based on the draft environmental impact report for the Cape Cod Bridges Program.
Steve Walsh of Sagamore Beach said he found the open house very helpful with people answering questions.
“This whole thing is a good idea,” he said. He then suggested to economist Frank Mahady at the Socioeconomic station that a similar event be held next year before the bridge construction begins.
Expected decline in population
Mahady, who has been working as an economic development consultant on the project for 10 years, was telling members of the public that the bridges will not increase development on the Cape as some people think. In fact, he said the Cape’s population will be declining through 2050 because of the aging population and cost of living, among other reasons.
He pointed to the data in a 69-page socioeconomics technical report he helped prepare for his company, FXM Associates. There were expert consultants at each of the stations.
Chatham resident John Hallgren was also sharing his own knowledge of the bridge program with other attendees while they were surveying the large bridge maps. Hallgren, who has a personal interest in bridges and construction, has been following the bridge project since an initial presentation in Hyannis about five years ago, which he said showed graphic displays of why the bridges are needed.
Hallgren said he is trying to correct some misconceptions about the program on social media sites, where some people are still asking for alternatives to new bridges like a tunnel or filling in the canal or building one bridge in the middle of the canal. Those options have all been dismissed as not viable in the latest environmental report and a 2020 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report.
Luisa Paiewonsky, the state Department of Transportation Megaprojects Delivery Office Executive Director, who is heading up the Cape bridges program, was talking with people at the open house and pleased with the turnout.
The next step in the process
“It signals a new phase,” she told the Times. The environmental report was not just about filing, she said, but it signals the next step in the process.
After the state and federal environmental approvals of the program and permits from many agencies are received, she said the program will get the $1.3 billion approved grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the procurement process can begin. That is expected by next fall, according to the posted schedule.
Paiewonsky said she often gets asked about concerns that funding could be withheld, but answered, “I’m not worried about the money.” She said there is strong justification for bridges nationally and that the Cape Cod bridges are federally owned.
She also noted that the $700 million promised by the state helps and that the state will take over the bridges ownership once they are completed. The projected cost of the Sagamore Bridge is $2 billion and total cost of both bridges is estimated at $4.5 billion. No funds have been allocated for the Bourne Bridge.
Paiewonsky said there will be another public presentation on the project, probably later this fall, after the federal government reports are submitted to explain the next steps.
Timeline for Sagamore Bridge construction
One display showing the steps in the bridge program. The first poster showed the bridge program schedule, starting with fall 2019 when the state Department of Transportation study was completed through the current draft report, decisions by the state and federal agencies and the Massachusetts Environmental Protection certificate for summer 2026.
The second poster for the Sagamore Bridge schedule begins with the completed permits next summer, request for construction proposals in fall 2026, completed property acquisitions in fall 2027 and construction proceeding in winter 2027-28.
The Sagamore schedule shows the southbound bridge span onto the Cape in place in the fall 2031 and all traffic on it in fall 2033. The existing Sagamore Bridge is scheduled for demolition in the winter of 2033-34, the northbound span put in place in 2036 with all traffic on it in winter of 2036-37, with substantial completion expected in spring 2037.
The estimated attendance at 5 p.m., midpoint in the open house, was about 160, and up to 300 were expected by 7 p.m., according to one of the greeters.
To view the draft environmental impact report, go to eeaonline.eea.state.ma.us/EEA/MEPA-eMonitor/home. Choose the Year=2025 and Publication Date=Sept. 10, 2025 for the correct Environmental Monitor report. Then choose the tab labeled “Environmental Impact Reports” and find “Cape Cod Bridges Program” in the list. Comments are due by Oct. 24.
Susan Vaughn writes about transportation and other local community issues affecting Cape Cod residents and visitors. She can be reached at svaughn@capecodonline.com.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod bridges environmental report on display at open house