Cape Cod Tunnel

Canal drained, closed for ten months starting in May 2012

esidents of Cape Cod rejoice as construction began on the Cape Cod Tunnel. The CCT will be located where the two yellow roads meet in the picture above.

The tunnel, which is estimated to cost 100 zillion dollars, will run under the Cape Cod Canal, emerge in the Otis Air National Guard base before forking off to join both Route 6 and Route 28.

The project will require new exit ramps from both Route 3 and and Route 25. The new exit off Route 25 will be located at the lower end of the Ingersoll Bend section of Route 25, on Bournedale Road. It will follow the newly improved Bournedale Road to the tunnel. Both roads will meet the tunnel, which will leave the mainland about where Barlow's Clam Shack is.

Route 3 will be connected to the tunnel via Herring Pond Road, which will be seized (along with the 100 or so houses currently situated there) by Eminent Domain. The road will then be renamed "Route 54." I checked, there isn't a Route 54 in Massachusetts.

Once motorists exit the tunnel, they will be able to join either 6 or 28 via two new roads that will be cut out of the Otis Air National Guard base sprawl. Stacey Monponsett Street will break off from the tunnel and join Route 6 via an on ramp just after where the last houses in Sagamore are located, while Route 54 will run along MacArthur Boulevard before linking into the Otis Rotary, where Route 28 and Route 151 meet.

The idea is to thin out traffic as it approaches the bridges, thus basically giving us two small traffic jams on each road to the Cape instead of one big one. They also give Cape residents an additional evacuation route.

The project will create hundreds of temprary construction jobs. Bournedale Road and Route 54 should also provide the area with additional gas station and fast food jobs, as the locals seek to profit off the motorists. Three shifts at the gas station, the Burger King, and the Dunkin' Donuts will provide dozens of low-paying jobs for the depressed Bournedale region.

"This is a great day for the people of Cape Cod, and for the people who visit Cape Cod," said Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. State and Federal funding will be used for this project. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts will make sure that no shortcuts are taken in the building of the tunnel and her access roads.

The Cape Cod Canal will be drained and blocked off for 10 months as the tunnel is dug in and installed. That is expected to commence in May, 2012.