Talk about a bridge to far.
This is a case of two bridges too far.
They are the two “functionally obsolete” Cape Cod bridges—the Bourne and the Sagamore that were scheduled to be replaced at a cost of $4 billion.
The two bridges, considered a lifeline to the Cape, were built in 1935 and intended to last for 50 years. They have been standing for 81 years and were supposed to be replaced long ago.
But, thanks to the ineffectiveness of the state’s delegation to Congress, led by Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, it is not going to happen, at least for now.
That is because they, along with the members of the U.S. House from Massachusetts—all Democrats—failed to secure the appropriation that was supposedly forthcoming in President Biden’s massive $1.2 trillion Infrastructure ad Investment and Jobs Act.
Only it did not happen because Massachusetts failed to make the cut. A year ago Markey said of the bridges, “a project without funding is an hallucination.”
And that is what we have now, a hallucination.
Were the late Sen. Ted Kennedy around, it never would have happened. Kennedy was a master in securing federal funds for projects and programs in Massachusetts. It would also have helped in that Kennedy frequently crossed he bridges to get to and from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis.
Markey and Warren combined do not come close to Kennedy when it comes to obtaining federal funding for the state.
And you could throw in U.S. Rep. Ritchie Neal of Springfield ad Rep. William Keating of Bourne—Neal because he is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Keating because he represents Cape Cod.
But they, like Markey and Warren, simply lacked the clout to ensure that $1 billion toward replacement of the bridge would be included in the granting of funds by U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg a week ago.
“I will not rest until we have two gleaming new bridge connecting the Cape and Islands to the rest of Massachusetts, Markey said. Instead of “not” resting, he fell asleep.
To get the money, Markey would first have to get Biden’s attention and win over Buttigieg. So far he has done neither.
Keating, in a Boston Globe interview, said that he did get Biden’s attention on the bridge issue during Biden’s recent stopover at Logan Airport last month.
“I said, ‘We’ve got to get going on the bridges and this Mega fund is a great fit for it’,” Keating told Biden. Biden replied, “Cape Cod bridges…I got it, I got it.”
Maybe he did get it, but then forgot that he did.
The interesting thing about Markey, 76, and Buttigieg, 40, is that Markey has been in Washington longer than Buttigieg has been alive, yet it is Buttigieg who is giving Markey and Massachusetts a hard time. Ted Kennedy would have had Buttigieg as his driver.
After 46 years in first the House and then the Senate, and with Neal chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, one would think that they would have enough influence to get a couple of bridges built. Maybe they could if you named one bridge after Markey and the other after Neal.
The two aging bridges, (not the two politicians) which are owned by the Army Corps of Engineers, are the only roadway connections to the Cape. The Cape has a permanent population of some 260,000 people, but it attracts some 5 million visitors annually.
The problem is that if Markey, Warren and the rest of the state congressional delegation do not get federal money in the next federal handout, they may never get it.
Right now, the Democrats control everything, the House, the Senate, the White House and the vast federal bureaucracy, including the Department of Transportation.
If, as expected, the Republicans take over the House—and possibly the Senate—in the 2022 elections, money for the bridges could suddenly go elsewhere, or just disappear, like water under the bridge.
Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.
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