bridges

Rescue the Cape by rail

The Bourne Bridge, over the Cape Cod Canal, with the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge in the distance. The Bourne Bridge mostly serves drivers coming from the west.

The Sagamore Bridge, which mostly serves drivers coming from the north, especially from Greater Boston


— Photo by
Matt H. Wade.

Adapted from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

The narrow Bourne and Sagamore bridges, the only ways to drive to and from Cape Cod, were built back in the ‘30s and need to be replaced; they’re approaching being dangerous to drive on. Massachusetts Department of Transportation experts like the idea of replacing them with two sets of twin bridges. From an engineering standpoint, that sounds like a good idea. Let’s hope that adequate federal funds will be made available to do this.

But it’s unlikely that the new bridges would reduce traffic congestion on the Cape itself. Indeed, they could increase it by “smoothing” traffic over the canal, thus sending more drivers onto the skinny peninsula’s Route 6 (one long parking lot on summer weekends) and Route 28, some of whose traffic goes to ferry service to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. (We generally stay away from the Cape from Memorial Day to after Labor Day, though we have a few relatives there.)

What would help save what’s left of the fragile, overbuilt, now mostly suburban Cape  Cod is much more passenger rail service as an alternative to driving, including train stations close to the most popular summer places.

Let’s hope  that whatever replacement spans go up are beautiful, befitting the spectacular setting of the world’s widest  sea-level  canal, with  its dramatic bluffs.

Third Cape Cod Canal road bridge too much

The Bourne Bridge and the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge

The Bourne Bridge and the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

’m glad that the Army Corps of Engineers decided against proposing a third bridge over the Cape Cod Canal, though some folks in the tourist trade liked the idea. The already overdeveloped and fragile Cape doesn’t need more cars funneled onto the long, narrow (and washing away) glacial moraine.

The corps does propose replacing the deteriorating Bourne and Sagamore bridges, which were built in the ‘30s. The new bridges would include four travel lanes, two added lanes for merging traffic, and – praise be to God! -- a median separating the on-Cape and off-Cape-bound traffic on each bridge. The lack of a median has added a certain frisson to driving over the New Deal era spans, especially as tank-like SUV’s, which always seem to be speeding, plow across.

Also encouraging is that there will be improved access for bike riders and pedestrians to enjoy the dramatic views of the world’s largest sea-level canal, with steep, wooded bluffs plunging down to it. The current structures would remain in service until the new bridges open to traffic.

The Cape needs more rail service (including railroad stations) as an alternative to cars. So I’m glad the quaint, vertical-lift railroad bridge, also put up in the ‘30s, at the western end of the canal, is not being torn down; it’s said to be in good condition.