The
Sagamore Bridge in
Sagamore, MassachusettsSagamore is a census-designated place in the town of Bourne in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,544 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Sagamore is located at ....
carries
U.S. Route 6U.S. Route 6 , also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, a name that honors an American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system, running east-northeast from Bishop, California to Provincetown, Massachusetts. Until 1964, it continued south from Bishop to...
across the
Cape Cod CanalThe Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway traversing the narrow neck of land that joins Cape Cod to mainland Massachusetts.Part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the canal is roughly 17.4 miles long and connects Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south...
, connecting
Cape CodCape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
with the rest of
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
,
USAThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Most traffic approaching from the north follows
Route 3Route 3 is a southward continuation of U.S. Route 3, connecting Cambridge, Massachusetts with Cape Cod. All of it, except for the northernmost end in downtown Boston and Cambridge, is a freeway....
, which ends at US 6, just north of the bridge, and provides
expresswayA controlled-access highway is a highway designed exclusively for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow and ingress/egress regulated...
connections from Boston and
Interstate 93Interstate 93 is an Interstate Highway in the New England section of the United States. Its southern terminus is in Canton, Massachusetts, in the Boston metropolitan area, at Interstate 95; its northern terminus is near St. Johnsbury, Vermont, at Interstate 91...
.
History
The bridge, along with its sibling, the
Bourne Bridge, was constructed beginning in 1933 by the
Public Works AdministrationThe Public Works Administration , part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933 in response to the Great Depression...
for the
United States Army Corps of EngineersThe United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
, which operates both the bridges and the canal. Both bridges carry four lanes of traffic over a 616-foot (188 m) main span, with a 135-foot (41 m) ship clearance, and opened on June 22, 1935. The design of the Sagamore and Bourne bridges was later copied in miniature for the John Greenleaf Whittier Bridge that connects
Interstate 95Interstate 95 is the main highway on the East Coast of the United States, paralleling the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Maine. The Massachusetts portion of the highway enters from the state of Rhode Island in Attleboro and travels in a northeasterly direction to the junction with Route 128 in...
from
NewburyportNewburyport is a small coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 35 miles northeast of Boston. The population was 21,189 at the 2000 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island...
to
AmesburyAmesbury is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Though it officially became a city in 1996, its formal name remains "The Town of Amesbury." In 1890, 9798 people lived in Amesbury; in 1900, 9473; in 1910, 9894; in 1920, 10,036; and in 1940, 10,862. The population was 16,283 at...
on Massachusetts' North Shore.
The bridge replaced an earlier, 1912 bridge, which was built as a
drawbridgeA drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.-Castle drawbridges:...
before the canal was widened. The original bridge approaches are still visible to the north of the modern bridge, though both approaches are in low-traffic residential areas.
In 2004, construction began to replace the
rotaryA traffic circle or rotary is a type of circular intersection in which traffic must travel in one direction around a central island. In some countries, traffic entering the circle has the right-of-way and drivers in the circle must yield. In many other countries, traffic entering the circle must...
that connects US 6 and Route 3 to the bridge with a trumpet interchange (known as the "Sagamore Flyover"). The project was previously delayed for many years owing to controversy over the disruption of homes and businesses in the area. The project finally commenced because of the severe
gridlockThe term gridlock is defined as "A state of severe road congestion arising when continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill; a traffic jam of this kind." The term originates from a situation possible in...
at the rotary, which was built to accommodate a much smaller resident and visitor population, and was the site of many traffic accidents over the years. The flyover was completed in late 2006.
The Army Corps of Engineers started a project in Fall 2009 that replaced the bridge deck and the sidewalk along with the lighting. The project was completed ahead of schedule in May 2010.
External links