UNDER CONSTRUCTION - MOVED TO MIDDLEBORO REVIEW 3 https://middlebororeviewandsoon.blogspot.com/
Friday, August 9, 2024
CRYPTO CARPET BAGGER JOHN DEATON VOTED 3 TIMES IN 20 YEARS....."R" VOTERS GENUFLECT! NO MORE "R" LIARS!
CHINA BANNED CRYPTO IN 2021... YEARS AGO!
WARREN BUFFETT CALLED CRYPTO 'RAT POISON SQUARED'
DO "R" VOTERS EVER ENLIGHTENED THEMSELVES?
CRYPTO CARPET BAGGER JOHN DEATON VOTED 3 TIMES IN 20 YEARS.....
JOHN DEATON IS A FAKE & A FRAUD & A LIAR WHO CREATED A PHOTO OP
IN FRONT OF THE CAPE COD BRIDGE...THE SAGAMORE BRIDGE BASED ON LIES.....SURROUNDED BY OTHER BRAIN DEAD MASS GOP WHO JUST NODDED AGREEMENT TO HIS LIES!
CRYPTO CLOWN IS GOING TO WRITE-IN CHARLIE BAKER WHO LEFT THE EXPENSIVE MBTA DISASTERS WE'RE DEALING WITH?
THE BRAIN DEAD MEDIA GAVE CHARLIE BAKER A FREE PASS IGNORING THE INCOMPETENTS HE APPOINTED - OUT OF STATE HACKS TO SUPERVISE CONSTRUCTION WHO NEVER CAME TO THE COMMONWEALTH? THERE'S LOTS MORE THAT THE CORPORATE MEDIA IGNORED....
HOW ABOUT THE NO BID BATHROOM/KITCHEN? HOW ABOUT THE CONSTRUCTION FAILURES THAT CHARLIE BAKER WAS FULLY AWARE OF PRIOR TO LEAVING OFFICE? JUST LEFT THE MESS TO MAURA HEALY & ENG TO ADDRESS & FUND?
JOHN DEATON IS A CARPETBAGGER & IGNORANT OF THE SURROUNDING HISTORY OF ANY ISSUE....HE JUST BLABS!
Deaton, of Swansea, and Republican state legislature candidatesChristopher Lauzon, Kari MacRae and Susanne Conley took the occasion also to draw attention to the need to replace the bridges.
They criticized their Democratic opponents and incumbents for not doing enough to lobby the federal government for money to cover the costs, estimated at $4.5 billion to replace both bridges, Deaton said.
“In 2021, the US Army Corps of Engineers said the bridges were obsolete,” Deaton said. “Gov. Baker tried to get federal money. Where was Sen. Warren? We need someone who doesn’t put party above country.” LIE!
WHERE WERE YOU JOHN DEATON? LIVING IN RHODE ISLAND! tRUMP SLASHED FUNDING FROM THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS....WHAT DID YOU & THE MASS GOP DO TO PROTEST?
tRUMP CALLED FOR MAGA MORONS TO DEFEAT THE INFRATRUCTURE BILL...MOST GENUFLECTED...THE VOTES ARE PUBLIC & POSTED.
VOTERS ARE SMARTER THAN REPUBLICAN DIM WITS GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR... CRYPTO CARPETBAGGER JOHN DEATON VOTED 3 TIMES IN 20 YEARS, NEVER LIVED IN MASSACHUSETTS UNTIL THIS RECENT CHARADE.
Gee, Republican Nit Wits did you notice that there was no FUNDING FOR INFRASTRUCTURE until President Biden & DEMOCRATS passed the INFRASTRUCTURE BILL?
Former Daffy Dude called for its DEFEAT and 30 MAGA DIM WITS genuflected in the SENATE! Must I post the VOTES that are publicly available?
It's time for REPUBLICAN CLOWNS to stop promoting LIES! These GOP DIM WITS whine, complain, criticize....did they attend any of the numerous hearings? They don't even comprehend the complexities involved.
One of the bridges, the BOURNE is a RAILROAD bridge. Surely the Carpetbagger Deaton hasn't figured that out.
The SAGAMORE BRIDGE will be paid for thanks to President Biden and Democrats that approved the legislation.
'We've got the money.' $993M federal boost means new Sagamore Bridge now paid for
Get ready Cape Cod, because there is now enough money to build a brand new, modern bridge to replace the aging Sagamore Bridge, vastly improving a vital economic engine and public safety lifeline for the region.
The long-awaited Sagamore project in Bourne has received a nearly $1 billion boost from the federal government, the Massachusetts congressional delegation announced Friday. Added to the $722 million in previously granted federal money, plus $700 million in money set aside by the state, it's more than enough to cover the estimated $2.1 billion to replace the 89-year-old span, with some left over to put toward replacing the Bourne Bridge.
"It's so exciting! Massachusetts just hit a billion-dollar home run to start replacing the Cape Cod bridges," U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, said in a phone call Friday afternoon. "We've got enough to pay for one bridge!"
The grant brings the total federal investment in the Sagamore replacement to $1.7 billion. Including what the state has promised, the full bank account for replacing the Cape Cod bridges is now $2.42 billion.
The Cape Cod Canal bridges were designed and built in the 1930s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which still owns and maintains them today. The bridges initially saw one million crossings annually, with that figure shooting up to nearly 38 million today, according to the Cape Cod Commission. That level of traffic is about the same as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, which is about six times the length and twice the width.
'One of the biggest federal grants'
Warren said the total federal allocation amounts to "one of the biggest federal grants in U.S. history."
"Most of the federal funding is for much less expensive projects, or it's a much smaller fraction of the overall cost," she said.
U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Massachusetts, noted the grant was the second largest allocation nationwide from the bridge investment program — Oregon and Washington State received about $1.5 billion to replace the Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River that connects the two states.
"We had to really be successful here, and we were. There is a great sense of relief," he said, talking by phone Friday. "If this was not successful, it would have pushed the project back many, many years."
The federal government so far is covering about 94% of the costs toward replacing the two bridges. Warren said the federal share of other big projects in the Bay State, like the Big Dig and the Boston Harbor cleanup, was much smaller.
Keating and Warren have worked for years alongside U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, to secure funding for replacing the bridges. Gov. Maura Healey has also pushed for state funds and supported the efforts to win federal money.
Securing the funding, Warren said, is a monumental accomplishment, especially considering "two years ago we had zero federal dollars for this bridge."
Markey: 'Today is the big payoff'
After learning about the additional funding on Friday, Markey said, "it's like Christmas in July for Cape Cod."
"I joined the public works committee in the U.S. Senate 11 years ago this week and the Sagamore Bridge replacement has been a project for all of these years," he said by phone. "Today is the big payoff."
Keating, who's been advocating for replacing the bridges since he was elected in 2013, agreed. "The question is no longer about how to fund the replacement of the Sagamore Bridge, but when shovels will go in the ground to build it," he said.
Keating: New bridge will be economic lifeline
Replacing the bridges, Keating said, will "bring immense economic, environmental, and social benefits to the region and the entire commonwealth."
The new bridge, "will be more than just a connection between two sides of the canal, it is a lifeline for the quarter of a million people who live on Cape Cod and the economic driver that brings workers and tourists back and forth every day."
As a resident of Bourne, which is split by the canal, Keating said he is particularly cognizant of how important the bridges are.
"I live and breathe this every day," he said.
More than half the workers who fuel the region's economy travel over the bridges daily, and the Cape's hospitality industry relies on adequate access to the Cape for visitors, Keating said. Additionally, the bridges serve as essential gateways for access to the ferries that carry residents, visitors, and essential supplies to the Islands, he said.
Town of Bourne: 'involved every step of the way'
Bourne Town Administrator Marlene McCollem on Friday said town leaders are "very excited" about the final piece of funding for the Sagamore Bridge falling into place. Her office learned of the award around mid-morning on Friday, she said.
Going forward, "the town will be involved every step of the way" as the project gets started, McCollem said.
The town will be, and already is, working closely with the state transportation department and the design team for the bridge project on "how it will look and how it's going to be built," McCollem said.
Keating said some "early construction work" could get started as soon as 2026.
Warren is eager to see things progress as soon as possible. "We've got the money," she said. "Now it's up to the engineers to get this thing under way."
What improvements are planned?
The Sagamore Bridge will feature several key improvements over the current structure that will allow for greater volume and safer traffic flow.
Currently, a single crossing, Warren said, "really reminds you of not having an up-to-date, 21st century bridge."
The new Sagamore Bridge, Keating said, will essentially encompass two spans, one for traffic headed onto the Cape and one for traffic leaving it. The lanes will also be wider, Keating said, "so all of us who are now traveling with white knuckles over the bridge" to avoid either scraping the passenger side on high curbing, or side-swiping oncoming vehicles, can be more relaxed.
Plans additionally call for emergency pull-over lanes, and a safer space for bicycle and pedestrian crossings.
Will traffic be backed up during construction?
"As the construction goes forward, they're making great plans so this will not be interrupting traffic," Keating said.
According to Healey's office, the replacement project "will be fully offset from the existing bridge so that traffic may be maintained on the existing bridge during the project."
It is anticipated that the project will create more than 9,000 union construction jobs.
Is the Sagamore Bridge funding guaranteed?
"It's locked in. This is it," Warren said of the Sagamore Bridge funding. "It's already been appropriated. We knew that this money was going to be spent, but the question was who was going to get it. That's been answered now."
The challenge, the legislators say, could be in securing funds for the Bourne Bridge replacement if a new federal administration comes in that doesn't support such large investments in infrastructure.
Keating said the estimated cost of replacing the Bourne Bridge is about the same as for the Sagamore Bridge, though he hopes economies of scale can be realized.
Editor's note: A correction was made to the new grant amount in a headline on July 12, 2024.
Heather McCarron can be reached at hmccarron@capecodonline.com, or follow her on X @HMcCarron_CCT
The Sagamore Bridge is one of two spans connecting Cape Cod to mainland Massachusetts.JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF
In what officials cast as a watershed moment,the Biden administration is awarding Massachusetts nearly $1 billion toward replacing one of the two aging Cape Cod bridges, cementing the most significant piece of funding yet to help realize the multibillion-dollar project, people with knowledge of the award told the Globe.
The $993 million grant accounts for nearly half of the estimated $2.1 billion it would take to replace the Sagamore Bridge, one of the two 89-year-old structures that provide the only roads on and off the Cape.
State officials have said they plan to replace the Sagamore first, before pursuing more funding for a new span in place of the nearby Bourne Bridge.Replacing both bridges is expected to cost $4.5 billion, state officials have estimated.
The amount Massachusetts is receiving nearly matches the $1.06 billion the state and the US Army Corps of Engineers — which owns and maintains the bridges— had applied for last year through the federal Bridge Investment Program.
Consequently, the new funding effectively ensures a new bridge will be built in place of the Sagamore, federal Massachusetts lawmakers said. US Senator Elizabeth Warren on Friday said the state is “ready to put shovels in the ground,” noting that two years ago, the federal government had committed no money to the project. She called the new grant a “billion-dollar home run.”
“There’s no question: It’s all systems go,” US Representative Bill Keating told the Globe, adding the project was dependent on winning the $1 billion grant. “We would have been nowhere without it. There would be no timeline without it.”
State officials said Massachusetts has now secured more than $1.71 billion in federal funding for the project, including a $372 million grant the state won in December and another $350 million it received in a separate federal appropriations bill. Governor Maura Healey has promised up to $700 million in state money for the entire project, while the Army Corps of Engineers agreed to commit $600 million, subject to Congress appropriating the money.
In an interview Friday evening, Healey emphasized that “there’s still a ways to go” until construction, noting the state is working through environmental permitting, and that it must next select a firm to design and build the bridge.
But she said the state has “never been closer to rebuilding the bridges.”
“This is Christmas in July,” US Senator Edward Markey told the Globe, noting the Sagamore replacement is expected to be wider than the original. “This announcement means that a brand-new shiny Sagamore Bridge is going to be constructed.”
The bridges, which first opened to traffic in 1935, were intended to stand for just 50 years, and the Army Corps recommended in 2020 that both be replaced.
The project is a complex one. The bridges are owned by the federal government, though under an agreement with state officials, the state will take over ownership of and operate the two new spans over the Cape Cod Canal once they are built. State transportation officials said earlier this month that the first new span would be built “fully offset” from the current Sagamore Bridge, so that traffic can continue to flow over it during construction.
Officials have warned that without replacing or fixing each bridge, they’ll be forced to permanently close a lane in each direction by 2032 on the Bourne Bridge and 2036 on the Sagamore Bridge. The Healey administration has estimated that for the Sagamore Bridge alone, construction on a new bridge would begin in late calendar year 2028 and would last until late 2035 or early 2036.
Past attempts to secure federal help went nowhere. The state whiffed on $3 billion in requests to fund the replacement of both during the final months of then-governor Charlie Baker’s administration, partly because the state and Army Corps of Engineers didn’t have a fully fleshed-out financing plan.
A Department of Transportation official told state officials last year that it had identified a $630 million shortfall in the project, according to meeting notes obtained by the Globe.
That prompted Healey to change course. She said last year she’d seek to replace the bridges in a “phased process,” starting first with the Sagamore Bridge, in part because it carries nearly 17,000 more cars on average each day than the Bourne.
The nearly $1 billion grant the state is now getting, however, was crucial for anything to move forward. “This is a game-changing award for Massachusetts,” Healey said.
It remains unclear when, or whether, the state will be able to win the funding to replace the Bourne. A big factor in the state’s success rests with this year’s election, Massachusetts officials said, illustrating how something as bureaucratic as bridge funding can be tightly wound into politics.
Warren has publicly stood by Biden, declaring that he’s the party’s nominee and touting his accomplishments, and Markey on Friday told the Globe he believes Biden is “going to be our nominee.” Healey has said Biden should “carefully evaluate” whether he remains Democrats’ best candidate to win against former president Donald Trump in November.
“The Sagamore Bridge is a done deal because Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020 and because Democrats controlled the House and the Senate. And now we have to find the funding for the Bourne Bridge,” Markey said Friday, arguing it will be “much more likely” the state can secure the funding for the Bourne Bridge with Biden in office.
“We need to make sure that Joe Biden gets reelected,” he said.
Healey declined to address the “conjecture” of what impact the2024 presidential election could have on the state’s chances.
“We demonstrated through this application how critical this infrastructure is to Massachusetts and to the region,” she said. “I’ll continue to make that point to Washington, D.C.”
DID MASS GOP, CARPETBAGGER JOHN DEATON OR ANY REPUBLICANS PROSTEST?
Trump budget omits funds for Cape bridges
By Geoff Spillane
Funding to replace the Sagamore and Bourne bridges is not included in President Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ fiscal 2020 work plan. WASHINGTON — Funding for the replacement of the Sagamore and Bourne bridges is not included in President Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ fiscal 2020 work plan, both of which were released this week. The exclusion prompted U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. William Keating, all Massachusetts Democrats, to send a strongly worded letter to Washington late Thursday calling the omission “inexplicable” and expressing “deep disappointment.” “We are greatly disturbed by this omission of funds for the Cape Cod Canal bridges and demand answers as to how the USACE plans to finance the replacement of such vital bridges that have long outlived their usefulness,” they wrote in the letter to Mick Mulvaney, a member of the president’s Cabinet as director of the office of management and budget, and Rickey James, assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works.
The Army Corps, in a draft version of its Major Rehabilitation Evaluation Study released in October, recommended replacing the bridges instead of rehabilitating the two 84-year-old spans. The Army Corps, which owns and maintains the bridges, determined the $1.5 billion estimated to replace them would be more cost-effective than repairing them, and work could begin as early as 2025. The Army Corps at the time said a final report would be submitted to its headquarters this month.
“At this point, we’re focusing on completing the Major Rehabilitation Report and submitting it to our headquarters for approval,” Beth Gosselin, chief of public affairs for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New England District, wrote in an email to the Times. “Until we have an approved report, we can’t move to the budgeting process. At this time, we are funded to continue to maintain the bridges in order to ensure the continued safety of the traveling public.”
Although there was no money in the budgets for the replacement project, the Army Corps Work Plan does allocate $11.9 million for the Cape Cod Canal Federal Navigation Project, and the president’s budget allots $12.4 million for ongoing operations and maintenance of the canal.
The federal legislators, however, said in the letter that they had previously requested an allocation of Army Corps funds in fiscal 2020 as a “significant down payment and a responsible long-term investment,” so that if a final decision on the replacement recommendation were made this spring, the project could begin immediately to avoid delays and increased costs. “We are concerned that this decision reflects a failure to understand the urgency of the situation for the Cape & Islands,” the region’s federal delegation wrote. “The residents of this region cannot wait multiple years for this project to begin. The Bourne and Sagamore are not only vital links to the beating heart of the Massachusetts tourism economy, but critical evacuation routes in the event of an emergency. Two new structures are needed without delay in order to protect both the local economy and public safety.”
Keating hit hard at the Trump administration in a message to the Times on Thursday night.
“Congress has repeatedly appropriated funds to the Army Corps to perform necessary projects like continuing the ongoing work on the Cape Cod Canal bridges,” he said. “This Administration, however, has once again ignored the will of Congress and instead decided to gut the Army Corps’ budget for the second year in a row, including blatantly ignoring the work needed on the canal bridges. The Administration’s continued refusal to fund these vital infrastructure projects has a direct, negative impact on the daily lives of the 250,000 Massachusetts residents who depend on the Bourne and Sagamore bridges.” “We are in it for the long haul,” said Wendy Northcross, CEO of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce. “We know it is not going to be a simple task to get the funding, but I think we will prevail eventually. The federal government owns the bridges, and they have a responsibility to help us figure this out.”
Northcross added that the nation as a whole needs an infrastructure bill for transportation and water infrastructure.
“It’s disappointing that the Trump administration has gone back on the Army Corps’ commitment to replace the aging bridges that span the Cape Cod Canal,” said state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro. “While the administration has neglected to fund new Sagamore and Bourne bridges, I have confidence that our federal delegation will deliver for the Cape and Islands on these critical projects.”
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