Wider Cape highway bridges would bring more traffic

If only more people could take the train to Cape Cod, via the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge, above, on such services as the CapeFLYER, seen below at Buzzards Bay.

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

There are big plans afoot to replace the Bourne and Sagamore bridges, over the Cape Cod Canal, with wider ones, with the hope of easing the flow of traffic, especially, of course, in the summer, and making the crossings safer. There would be an additional third lane in each direction on each bridge. In fact, after a while the wider bridges would be as jammed as the current thrillingly narrow ones, which were built in the 1930s. More roads and lanes draw more cars.

If only there were daily, year-round train service to get more Cape-bound people off the road.

There is CapeFLYER’s Boston to Cape Cod passenger train service, over the canal’s railroad bridge, offered Friday evenings, Saturdays and Sundays from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day. It goes from Boston’s South Station to Hyannis via Braintree, Brockton, Middleborough/Lakeville, Wareham Village, Buzzards Bay and Bourne, with scheduled travel time from Boston to Hyannis (the Cape’s Los Angeles) of 2 hours and 20 minutes. But much more train service is needed to reduce the traffic on and approaching the highway bridges.