MassDOT puts the whole program at $4.5 billion. About $2.42 billion of that is locked in for the Sagamore. The Bourne is not funded yet. None of the money comes from local Cape budgets. This is a state and federal project.
The big picture
- Whole program: $4.5 billion. That is both bridges plus design, permitting, land and inflation, so it is more than the two bridge costs added together.
- Sagamore: $2.42 billion. Fully funded.
- Bourne: not funded yet. MassDOT has not published a cost for the Bourne on its own.
Where the Sagamore money comes from
- $1.72 billion in federal money. That is three grants, not one: $993 million from the Bridge Investment Program, $372 million from the Mega grant program and $350 million from the Army Corps of Engineers.
- $700 million from Massachusetts, in the state’s 2026 to 2030 capital investment plan.
- Together that covers the full $2.42 billion Sagamore replacement. No gaps.
Where the Bourne money is coming from, and where it’s stuck
Massachusetts is asking the federal government for additional grant money to cover most of the Bourne. That decision is expected in 2027.
The state share will be sized to match the federal share once decided. The request on the table is about $1.183 billion. Until that decision lands, the Bourne has a design moving forward but no construction money behind it.
Why isn’t the Cape paying?
The bridges are owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a federal agency. The bridges sit on federal land. The canal itself is federal too.
The roads connecting the bridges are state highways (Route 6 and Route 28), so MassDOT manages them.
Local towns (Bourne, Sandwich, Sagamore Beach) pay for their own local roads, schools and services. They don’t pay anything toward the bridge replacement.
What happens if the Bourne grant doesn’t come through?
Massachusetts has said the project moves forward either way. Funding gets restructured if needed. A delay is possible if the federal share is much smaller than expected.
We’ll cover the Bourne grant decision as soon as it lands.
For the current funding picture and the rest of the project status, see the Project Tracker. For the deeper story on the rebuild, see The Cape Cod Bridges Replacement, Explained.