Sunday, June 22, marked the 90th anniversary of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges — and the railroad bridge turns 90 in December.
Plans are moving ahead to replace the two highway bridges at a cost of about $4.5 billion, so the bridges may not see their 100th birthday. But the Cape Cod Canal Visitor Center celebrates their history every day.
CAI met with Samantha Gray, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers park ranger, to hear more about the history.
When the bridges opened in 1935, The Boston Globe hailed them as a cure for traffic jams caused by vehicles waiting for the old drawbridges to open and close.
Local people welcomed the new bridges with a three-day celebration.
“On June 22nd, they had a five-mile parade,” Gray said. “An estimated 8,000 people were in the parade, including 2,500 National Guardsmen. … The parade was so big, it was said that it took about two and a half hours for them to pass in one spot.”
One remarkable part of the story is how much hand labor was involved, she said.
With federal funding designed to put people back to work during the Depression, about 700 people from southeastern Massachusetts were hired to work on the bridges, in four shifts a day, with very little machinery.
An exhibit at the Visitor Center depicts the history of the bridges, with historical photos.
“We can see the foundations, and the piers, and the spans of the bridges being constructed,” Gray said. “One of my favorite photos … features the spans being constructed from both sides towards the middle.”
Before 1935, all three bridges to the Cape were drawbridges, so every time a tall boat went through, vehicles had to wait.
Boats had to hold their course in strong currents through an opening only one-quarter the width it is today.
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