If you’re near the Sagamore Bridge, you may hear the sound of pile driving over the next few months.
Work started Tuesday to test three types of piles for the foundation of the replacement bridge. It marks the most visible activity yet for the new Sagamore. Actual construction is still at least 18 months away.
Project staff gathered on the southeast side of the bridge, near the former Christmas Tree Shops, to mark the beginning of the work. Testing is starting on the east side of the old bridge, even though the new bridge will be built on the west side.
Known as foundation load testing, the work involves using a crane-mounted diesel hammer to pound the piles into the ground.
As officials and news reporters stood by the Sagamore Bridge Tuesday, the first clangs of sound rang out. The hammer struck the H-pile, which looks similar to an I-beam, and a puff of exhaust dissipated into the air with each strike.
Piles will be driven down 75 to 90 feet, said John Smith of HNTB, the preliminary designer of the project.
“When it gets in place, we'll use jacks to do a vertical load test, a tension load test, and a lateral test,” he said, to determine what kind of strength each type of pile can provide in the particular soil at the bridge.
The leader of the project, Luisa Paiewonsky of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, said residents should expect to hear intermittent banging and hammering during the day, from about 7 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m., for two to three months.
“We like to think of it as the sound of progress, but we understand that people living nearby will hear it, and it may not be what they want,” she said. “But we do commit to getting in and out as fast as possible. There's no way to bang a pile 90 feet into the ground without creating significant noise.”
In addition to H-piles, the testing will include cylindrical steel piles, called “pipe piles,” with both closed and open ends.
Observing the work from the adjacent lawn, Paul Niedzwiecki, CEO of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, said he understands that disruption from noise can be a concern, “but it's something that we have to do.”
“We're excited,” he said. “I mean, this is really sort of the official start of the project for us, and we're excited to get it going.”
State Rep. Steven Xiarhos, a Barnstable Republican, spoke briefly from the podium after Paiewonsky’s remarks. He said new Sagamore and Bourne bridges are badly needed because the old bridges are too narrow and "structurally obsolete.”
“It’s public safety, it’s tourism, it’s business, it’s environment, and I think it's very special,” he said. “This will be what we call ‘the project of a lifetime.’”
The state plans to take 13 homes by eminent domain for the bridges. Eleven of those transactions are done, and several people have already moved, Paiewonsky said.
“I know those people; I've been in their living rooms,” Xiarhos said. “And it was very emotional, but most of them are doing okay.”
Construction of the $2.1 billion Sagamore Bridge is scheduled to start in late 2027 or early 2028.
The Sagamore Bridge is fully funded, but the $2.4 billion Bourne Bridge is not, so the timeline for the Bourne remains uncertain.
Paiewonsky, director of megaprojects for the Department of Transportation, said the state has applied for a federal grant of more than $1 billion for the Bourne Bridge but has not heard if the grant will be awarded.
Some of the preliminary work, including permitting, applies to both bridges.
