Sagamore Bridge repairs are complete, two weeks before Memorial Day weekend

Drivers traveling across the Cape Cod canal will experience some traffic relief starting Thursday. Lane restrictions that have clogged the Sagamore Bridge for weeks have been removed, two weeks ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Only two of the bridge’s four lanes have been in use since March 20, due to maintenance work called "critical" by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Three phases of repairs were set to be completed by May 26, the start of the summer traffic rush.

The Corps built the Sagamore Bridge and also operates and maintains it. In a press release, the Corps said the repair work was completed two weeks ahead of schedule, and “all travel lanes are open.”

A contractor will work overnight this upcoming weekend, according to the Corps, to remove temporary road signage and to reopen the bridge’s sidewalks to pedestrians and cyclists.

News of the completed repairs has brought relief to many Cape Cod business owners, said Paul Niedzwiecki, chief executive of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.

Niedzwiecki said the Sagamore and the neighboring Bourne Bridge are the Cape’s “automotive lifelines to the rest of the world.” When lane restrictions happen on one bridge, “it really backs up traffic during peak times on both bridges, so that businesses feel it," he said. "Especially in the hospitality industry."

Nearly 80,000 cars cross the Sagamore daily in peak summer season, according to a study by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation; 58,000 cross the Bourne Bridge. The traffic levels are "exponentially higher" than the volumes projected in the 1930s when the structures were built.

Niedzwiecki estimates that nearly half the Cape Cod workforce commutes to their jobs. He said that helped fuel the delays and “intense traffic situations" locals saw during this maintenance project. Mile-long backups at the bridge have been common in recent weeks, even early in the morning.

He said the traffic delays appeared to keep some visitors away; the Cape experienced a decline in room occupancy during the maintenance work on the Sagamore.

While happy the work is complete, Niedzwiecki is worried about future projects involving the Cape bridges, as the economy is so closely tied to their functioning efficiently.

Last year, the Corps and the state Department of Transportation applied for a $1.9 billion grant from the Federal Highway Administration to replace both the Sagamore and Bourne bridges, but were denied. Niedzwiecki said the agencies plan to reapply for the grant.

“We're hopeful that as soon as the end of the calendar year, we will hear some positive information from the federal government," he said, so the bridge replacement project could start by 2026.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the start date of the Sagamore Bridge work on March 20; it was delayed from its originally planned start date of March 1.