The Southside Connector was a proposed expressway that would connect the

Bourne Bridge The Bourne Bridge in Bourne, Massachusetts carries Route 28 across the Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod with the rest of Massachusetts. It won the American Institute of Steel Construction's Class "A" Award of Merit as the "Most Beautiful ...

to the

Mid-Cape Highway U.S. Route 6 (US 6) in Massachusetts is a long portion of the cross-country route connecting Providence, Rhode Island to Fall River, New Bedford, and Cape Cod. In the Fall River and New Bedford areas, US 6 parallels Interstate 195. O ...

near exit 59 on

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 mon ...

. Currently, a similar route is served by two two-lane highways, Sandwich Road and a stretch of

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 ...

, on opposite sides of the

Cape Cod Canal The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts connecting Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south, and is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The approximately canal traverses the neck ...

. Originally, the expressway was planned to be routed north of the canal. Plans were changed when it was discovered that 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 crossings ...

was overcrowded and the nearby Bourne Bridge was under capacity. The route was shifted in the 1970s and the current plans of the route would go through the northern half of the

Massachusetts Military Reservation The Joint Base Cape Cod is a state-designated joint base created by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States War Department in 1935. Governor James Curley signed the state bill to allocate and purchase land for a military facilit ...

History

Beginnings

The Southside Connector was first proposed in the 1950s as an extension of Massachusetts Route 25. It was part of the

Cape Cod Expressway The Cape Cod Expressway is the name given to a highway that was proposed to have gone from New York City to Provincetown, Massachusetts. The road later became part of many highways and expressways, although it was never built and signed as a sing ...

, which eventually morphed into the Mid-Cape Highway. It was originally planned to be a safe alternative to Route 6 which, was on the northern side of the

. As early as 1962, the Massachusetts Department of Public Works conducted a study once questions on the plans were raised. One study concluded that the

was over capacity while the

was under capacity. From these studies, it was determined that the expressway would cross the canal near the Bourne Bridge. Expressway connections would connect to Route 6 and 28 on the south side of the canal near the Bourne Rotary. Another crossing that would carry three lanes would be built next to the bridge to facilitate this extra traffic.

Rerouting

Between 1968 and 1977, studies concluded that the Southside Connector, as it was then known, would be routed along the south side of the canal. The route would begin at the Route 6 and 25 interchange at the canal, cross over the canal, turn east at the Bourne Rotary, which would be turned into an interchange, and go east until it reached the Mid-Cape Highway near exit 2. The total cost would be 35 million dollars.

Cancellation

The project was put on hold the next decade, but never cancelled outright when concerns arose about the status of the groundwater aquifers which sat under the reservation. Those aquifers were already polluted from years of military training, but the pollution was not discovered until about ten years later.

Possible revival

In recent years, the project has had renewed interest due to gridlock on both of the canal's sides. Although the project was projected to have cost thirty five million dollars in the 1970s, current estimates range from anywhere between 100 and 200 million dollars for construction. Local leaders have expressed support for the project as long as it includes a third crossing of the canal, as the current two bridges are chronically over capacity. In 2009, when the deck of the

was reconstructed, there were increased calls to route traffic through the reservation as there was gridlock on both sides of the bridge and on the Scenic Highway. For a while, the only hitch to the construction of the expressway in recent years, was a planned development called Canalside Commons which would have sat right to the east of the Bourne Rotary. Although the development was planned for well over 15 years, the recent economic downturn caused the project to be cancelled.

Criticism

Environmentalists and anti-sprawl advocates have been against renewed efforts to construct the expressway as it would likely bring more tourists and residents to the Cape, given that the current gridlock is likely deterring some visitors. They also fear that another bridge would further add to the congestion that the local highways face.

References

External links

*{{cite web , title=MA 25 Expressway , url=http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/MA-25/ , website=www.bostonroads.com Transportation in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Roads in Massachusetts