Curious Why There's Still A Bourne Bridge Rotary

WBZ

It can be a traffic nightmare: getting onto and off the Cape using the Bourne rotary.

And that frustration sent Siisi from Weston to our website to ask: "I'm curious. Why is there a rotary after the Bourne Bridge? Replacing the rotary at the Sagamore has improved traffic tremendously."

Is there a plan to get rid of the remaining old rotary?

"The traffic around the rotary is horrible. It stops everything up in all directions. There's accidents, it ties people up," says one frustrated driver.

The Bourne Rotary just wasn't built to handle the modern-day volume of traffic. Another driver says: "You're definitely taking your life in your hands on some occasions, but you've got to do what they do in Europe and just anticipate."

The Bourne Bridge and rotary opened in the 1930s. It was a big advancement then, but now, not so much.

"I've sat in traffic for an hour and a half, easily," says one driver. Another comments, "Sometimes I go around the rotary two or three times before I feel comfortable to merge in or out. I think they should improve it like they did the Sagamore Bridge."

They did improve the Sagamore side three years ago by eliminating the old rotary there and putting in a flyover. You can now make a fairly straight shot to and from the Cape on the Sagamore side. The flyover has been a great success, and a lot of people say they think the same thing should be done on the Bourne Bridge side.

So what's the holdup? We put that question to Luisa Paiewonsky, commissioner of the Massachusetts Highway Department.

"They really are two different rotaries," she says. "What has worked on the Sagamore rotary doesn't necessarily work on the Bourne rotary, but we are studying it."

That's right, the Cape Cod Commission is doing another transportation study of that entire area. But a lot of people think it's been studied enough, and they just want a flyover. Commissioner Paiewonsky isn't convinced.

"It has not shown that it would be cost-effective to this point. And I think we owe it to the taxpayers to study the alternatives before making a quick decision, before investing tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure that's going to be there for decades," she cautions.

The study began in August, but it's scheduled to last at least a year and a half. "I just don't think people should expect a flyover on the Bourne Rotary any time soon," says Paiewonsky.

And that's the answer: Patience is a virtue. The study will also look at possible changes, smaller than a full flyover, to help ease traffic congestion at the Bourne Rotary.

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