Washington (October 18, 2019) – Massachusetts Senators Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren, and Congressman William R. Keating (MA-09) have sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) calling for all necessary funding for the Cape Cod Canal Bridges to be included in the USACE’s Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2020. The USACE recently released its draft “Major Rehabilitation Evaluation Report” on the Sagamore and Bourne Bridges in Cape Cod. The bridges connect the nearly 250,000 residents on the Cape and Islands to the rest of Massachusetts and connect the rest of the country to this beating heart of the Massachusetts tourism economy. The Bourne and Sagamore bridges are more than eighty years old and, as the USACE’s draft report just concluded, structurally deficient and in desperate need of replacement.

“It is of critical importance that work on the Cape Cod Canal Bridges begins as soon as possible,” wrote the Massachusetts lawmakers in their letter to Lieutenant General Todd T. Semonite, Commanding General of the USACE. “Allocating these initial funds in FY 2020 will represent a significant down payment and a responsible long-term investment in this critical infrastructure project.”

A copy of the letter can be found HERE.

The Massachusetts lawmakers have previously applauded the draft report as significant progress toward addressing the construction needs of these two vital infrastructure projects. They continue to support various efforts to strengthen the Cape Cod bridges: 

• As part of America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, Senators Markey and Warren secured language directing the Army Corps of Engineers to repair or replace critical evacuation routes, such as the Sagamore and Bourne Bridges.
• In May 2019, Senators Markey and Warren, and Rep. Keating, introduced the ESCAPE Act, legislation that dedicates $1 billion of federal resources to expand the capacity and improve the resilience of evacuation routes such as the Sagamore and Bourne bridges.
• In June 2019, Congressman Keating secured $5 million in the House’s Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) Appropriations Bill for the redesign of the bridges in their role as federally designated escape routes.
• In July of 2019, Senator Markey secured both the ESCAPE Act and a $3.265 billion bridge investment program in the highway funding bill passed by the Environment and Public Works Committee, ensuring multiple funding routes are available for replacing the Cape Cod Canal Bridges.

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