The Bourne Bridge in

Bourne, Massachusetts Bourne ( ) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,452 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on specific parts of the town of Bourne, please see the articles on Bourne (CDP), ...

carries Route 28 across the Cape Cod Canal, connecting

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

with the rest of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. It won the American Institute of Steel Construction's Class "A" Award of Merit as the "Most Beautiful Steel Bridge" in 1934. Most traffic approaching from the west follows

Massachusetts Route 25 Route 25 is a -long state highway located in Plymouth County and Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The route is a nominally east–west freeway for its entire length, and less commonly known as the Blue Star Memorial Highway. An e ...

which ends at the interchange with

US 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to ...

and Route 28 just north of the bridge. The highway provides

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

connections from Interstate 495 and Interstate 195.

History

The bridge and its sibling the

Sagamore Bridge The Sagamore Bridge in Sagamore, Massachusetts carries Route 6 and the Claire Saltonstall Bikeway across the Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod with the mainland of Massachusetts. It is the more northeastern of two automobile canal crossing ...

were constructed beginning in 1933 by the Public Works Administration for the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

, which operates both the bridges and the canal. Each bridge carries four lanes of traffic over a 616-foot (188 m) main span, with a 135-foot (41 m) ship clearance. Construction ended in early 1935 and the bridge opened on June 22, 1935. The approaches to the main span of the Bourne Bridge are considerably longer than those of the Sagamore Bridge due to the topography of the land. The bridge replaces an earlier 1911 drawbridge, and the original drawbridge's approaches are still accessible. The current structure was built to accommodate the widening of the canal. The bridge commences at a major rotary on the Cape Cod end.

Suicide deterrent fences

Between 1967 and 1977, 36 persons were recorded as having died by suicide from the Bourne and Sagamore bridges, and another 24 had attempted but either survived or were apprehended. From 1979 to 1983, as part of "major rehabilitation work," both of the bridges' four-foot high railings were replaced with suicide deterrent fencing. The 12-foot high fencing consists of one-inch round pickets spaced a maximum of six inches apart; the tops of the picket are bent on a seven-inch radius toward the roadway. In the 28-year period after the new fencing was installed (1984-2012), seven persons are known to have died by suicide from the bridges, and between 2013-2021, two attempts were prevented. The fencing was cited in 2021 as a possible model for bridges in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

. On the mainland side, New York Central Tugboat 16 sat on dry land at the approach to the bridge from the rotary from 1982 to 2006, serving as a local attraction.

Future

In October 2019, the Army Corps of Engineers recommended replacing the bridge with a wider bridge with four travel lanes, one auxiliary lane in each direction, bike and pedestrian paths, shoulders, and a median. The recommendation said that replacement was more cost-effective than upgrading the existing bridge in order to reduce long summertime backups. The Massachusetts DOT is following up on the 2019 study about the future of the bridge along with the Sagamore Bridge. The 2019 study concluded that improvements were needed to connectivity across the canal. The Cape Cod Bridges program is currently taking public input into the multi phased project and have unveiled different design types for feedback.

Bicycle/pedestrian access

There is a six-foot wide sidewalk for pedestrian and bicycle access on the west side of the bridge. The sidewalk is slightly raised, but there is no fence or barrier between it and car traffic, and cyclists are recommended to walk their bicycle. The bridge road is plowed in winter, although the sidewalk is sometimes unplowed and unpassable. Bridges to the Cape are sometimes closed for safety during high winds.

References

External links

Steve Anderson's BostonRoads.com: Bourne Bridge (MA 28)
* {{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place = Cape Cod Canal , bridge = Bourne Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream =