MassDOT Seeks Corps Permit for Cape Cod Plan

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation – Highway Division (MassDOT) is seeking a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, to conduct work in waters of the U.S. in conjunction with a rail extension project in Dennis and Yarmouth, Mass.

The proposed work involves the excavation of 2,150 cubic yards of material over a 13,135-square-foot area below Mean High Water (MHW), and the discharge of 9,300 square feet of fill material below the High Tide Line (HTL), associated with the Cape Cod Rail Trail Extension Project over the Bass River in Dennis and Yarmouth.

This project would add a 3.7-mile extension to the existing Cape Cod Rail Trail shared use path, beginning at the current trail terminus at Route 134 in Dennis and ending at Peter Homer Park on Old Town House Road in Yarmouth.

The work in waters of the U.S. is limited to work associated with the construction of a pedestrian bridge over the Bass River, and related channel restoration/widening work. A former railroad bridge in the same location was removed in 2010, though original abutments remain in place.

The project proposes to remove the existing abutments, excavate material from behind the abutments to create a wider channel opening, dredge within high portions of the channel to establish a channel depth of nine feet at Mean Low Water (MLW), install rip-rap slope protection, and construct a new pedestrian bridge with new abutments located in upland areas landward of the original abutments.

The channel will be widened from its current 60-foot width to approximately 114 feet wide at MHW.

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