Bourne Bridge

Alright, I know this is a review for a bridge, but this bridge signifies finally making it home to the place I grew up.
The Bourne Bridge is one of the largest landmarks associated with traveling to Cape. Usually it’s a pain in the rear to cross this baby, but if you know the right times it’s cake.
Overall this bridge is well maintained, the view from it is great, but the only frustration I have is that they used to light it at night which they no longer do. This used to be such a sight but now it’s a little bland if it’s dark.
Final thought, Welcome to Cape Cod!

Boats
canals
and
suicides
The Bourne Bridge is well known to anyone trying to get on or off of Cape Cod. Many people have great memories of this bridge and it’s twin, the Sagamore Bridge, which is on the other side of the canal. Crossing this bridge usually means a vacation or visit to the Cape.
Unfortunately most people also have nightmares of this bridge and perhaps the worst traffic jams I have ever been in have been trying to get over it. Sometimes it seems like traffic is backed up to Hyannis and the wait is roughly forever.
The Bourne Bridge is pretty cool to look at. It’s a archbridge with a suspended deck and was built in 1935 to replace an older draw bridge that was completed in 1911 when the canal was opened. The bridge is 135 feet above water lever so the large ships can get under it and is 2,384 long with a main span of 616 feet. The Sagamore Bridge’s main span is exactly the same but the approaches to the Bourne Bridge are much longer.
Like most large bridges the Bourne and Sagamore attracted lots of people intent on suicide, so in 1983 suicide barriers were installed and the rate of both attempts and successful suicides dropped dramatically. It’s unknown if the people that were deterred from jumping off the bridges eventually found other ways of ending their lives.
A graceful and lovely bridge in a very beautiful area. Great views going over the bridge of the canal, ships and bike path but with all the traffic the sight seeing is best left to the passengers. The bridge is occasional closed for very high winds or real bad storms but most of the time it is open and ready to get people to and from the Cape. You just might have to be a bit patient to actually get over it.

I grew up on this bridge. Watched people live and die on this bridge. I remember, one day, when I was growing up, my paw was fixing a suspension cord, and bird attacked him and he fell off and died. That was 16 years ago today.
²⁄₅ would not bridge

What is there to write about a bridge?
It’s a good spot if you are chasing a view to take photos of the canal with. The sunsets are excellent but not exactly an easy place to get to since you have to pretty much park on the cape side. I always check in here to keep up with the Unilocal counter.
However, the real secret may actually be what’s under the bridge and is a nice place to walk along the canal with.

Hard to really qualify the bridge as it once was, simply because the rotaries are missing on one half of this bridge as well as both sides of the Sagamore. The rotaries were needed when I was younger, and it seems like there would be better management of the traffic and certainly accidents if they were there. But what’s done is done and they are certainly good looking bridges for however much longer they can be kept.

The feeling I get whenever we drive across the Bourne Bridge on our way to the Cape is one of the best! The bridge itself is pretty picturesque and views of the Cape Cod Canal and surrounding areas are better seen during high traffic, when there’s more stop & go, less zoom zoom zoom over the bridge. I’ve seen many Cape-​goers or better yet, newcomers, succumb to the narrowness of the Bourne Bridge, scraping their hubcaps along the cement sidewalls & having anxiety attacks when reaching the rotary on the Capeside. My suggestion is to read up & find your barings before you travel to the Cape and if you can’t arise to the challenge of crossing bridges & conquering rotaries, stay home! Tourists… the nerve! ;)

This is the bridge that you enter to get to Cape Cod/​Martha Vineyard/​Nantucket. It wasn’t that crowed when we want across but once the season begin in late June. This place is a nightmare to cross but beside that, it is just a regular bridge w/​a nice view.

Yes, it’s a bridge, but it’s the bridge to the Cape that has the cute ’ Welcome to Cape Cod’ shaped out of shrubs for all to see once you’ve crossed over, and have landed safely on the Cape side of the canal. Too cute. Kitchy, but cute.
The views are gorgeous, and the bridge itself is pretty with it’s 1930’s design and sweeping arch. Yes, traffic can be bitch going across, as it’s one of two four-​lane bridges that serve as the only routes to drive onto the Cape, but that’s not the bridges fault. It does its job, and it does it well :).

How can you not love the Bourne bridge. one of two pathways to the beautiful Cape Cod??? The Beautiful views of the Cape Cod Canal are breathtaking! Not as big as the Sagamore. But, still as beautiful!

It is a good classic bridge for the cape. If traveling in the summer, aim to cross the bridge at 4 AM when no ones on it. Check out the bike path underneath it.