'Come Up To Cape Cod': Markey Invites Buttigieg To Tour Aging Bourne, Sagamore Bridges As Transportation Secretary
WASHINGTON (CBS) -- Sen. Ed Markey wants Pete Buttigieg to visit Cape Cod and tour the Bourne and Sagamore bridges once he is President Joe Biden's transportation secretary. The senator questioned the former South Bend, Indiana mayor at confirmation hearings on Thursday.
The bridges that connect about a quarter million people on the Cape are more than 85 years old and have been deemed structurally deficient. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined that it would be more cost efficient to replace the aging bridges rather than repair them, and the new bridges would be better equipped to handle more cars as well as pedestrians and bicyclists.
"Their life expectancy has come to a conclusion and we're going to need help in not repairing them, but replacing them in the future," Markey told Buttigieg. "So I would love to invite you, Mr. Secretary, to come up to Cape Cod so we can give you a tour of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges and maybe help to create a plan for us to be able to replace them before their usefulness has been completely exhausted."
Buttigieg, who said in his opening remarks that there's a "bipartisan appetite for a generational opportunity to improve America's infrastructure," indicated he'd be interested in a Cape trip.
"I look forward to that visit and would welcome the opportunity," he said.
The bridge project was included in the 5,593-page stimulus package passed by Congress in December. The bill called for "expedited completion" of the planning process for dozens of projects around the country, including the effort to "replace the Bourne and Sagamore bridges."
It's been expected that construction on the $1 billion project will not begin until 2025 at the earliest. The old bridges would remain open as the new ones are built.
