By Brooke Thomson
President and CEO

 The replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges on Cape Cod is more than a cute story about how long it took you to get back from your vacation.

The new bridges represent a desperately needed infrastructure lifeline to an economy that generates $16.3 billion annually – including $1.4 billion from the dynamic tourism industry. The bridges are also essential to ensuring safe and reliable travel for 230,000 full-time residents and workers, many of whom work on the Cape but live “on the mainland” across the Cape Cod Canal.

That’s why the recent announcement of a $1 billion federal grant for the bridge-replacement project is unambiguously good news for the Massachusetts economy. The funding is from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Bridge Investment Program (BIP) brings the total amount of federal funding secured for the project to nearly $1.72 billion – in addition to $700 million in state funding pledged by Governor Maura Healey’s administration.

As a member of the Cape & Islands Bridges Coalition, I’m particularly gratified that more than a decade of work and planning is about to put shovels in the ground.

The two-stage project will bring the bridges into a state of good repair, lower the long-term maintenance costs, address issues with traffic operations, improve safety by reducing crashes by as much as 48 percent and preserve and enhance productivity through new direct jobs and other economic benefits. More than 9,000 construction jobs go along with the project.

In March, Massachusetts signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers outlining the terms in which the commonwealth will take the lead on project delivery to replace the two federally owned bridges, and subsequently own, operate and maintain the new structures. The new Sagamore Bridge is expected to be completed by 2024. The Bourne Bridge could be up and running 18 months after that.

The full cost to replace both bridges is estimated at $4.5 billion.

The bridges provide a gateway to the Cape for more than 5 million visitors who enjoy its beaches, hiking trails and cultural attractions each year. The spans also provide access to a diversifying economy that also includes burgeoning “blue economy” cluster marine research and preservation organizations like AIM member Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

“There is no way to overstate how critical the replacement of the Sagamore and Bourne bridges is – this is an existential issue for Cape Cod,” said Paul Niedzwiecki, CEO, the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, which deserves tremendous credit for moving the project forward.

The Healey Administration and the Massachusetts Congressional delegation deserve tremendous credit for advancing a project that is critical to an often-under-appreciated contributor to the commonwealth’s economy.