“The traffic congestion we witnessed this fall was devastating to local residents, commuters and businesses,” said Delahunt. “I am concerned that it will happen again, unless we get all agencies and business groups working together on the planning of future work, the development of alternate routes, the upgrading adjacent roads, and in coming up with a much better system of communication.”
In a letter to Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan, Delahunt called for the creation of a task force to address the immediate, near-term and future transportation infrastructure needs of the bridges and the roads in and around the Cape Cod Canal. Given the numerous federal, state, county and local agencies involved in the management the Cape’s roads and bridges, Delahunt said any relief at easing the congestion and developing better communication will require getting “everyone on the same page and working together”.
Delahunt pledged the cooperation of federal agencies, but suggested the Commonwealth take the lead in convening and organizing the effort since the state is responsible for the management of the area’s roads and transportation system. Delahunt says the plan is modeled after the successful Cape Cod Public Transit Task Force he once co-chaired.
The creation of a Canal Area Regional Traffic Task Force (CARTTF) will serve as a “working group” that brings together all the necessary stakeholders to assess and evaluate proposals to mitigate traffic congestion crossing the Cape Cod Canal; to examine near term and long term solutions; and create an action plan including preliminary cost estimates for recommended actions. The CARTTF would be comprised of all necessary stakeholders including state, federal, county and local officials and transportation planners, as well as the affected chambers of commerce.
The Sagamore and Bourne Bridges were built in the early part of the 20th century by the Army Corps of Engineers and replaced three much smaller structures. According to studies, the resident population of Barnstable County has more than tripled in the past four decades and off-Cape commuting traffic has increased 1,440 percent. The bridges have been determined to be functionally obsolete and are insufficient - both in terms of the number of vehicle lanes and the widths of the lanes. Each year, more than 35 million vehicles pass over these two bridges, which provide the only land link between Cape Cod and the rest of Massachusetts.
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