$25 Million sought for critical access to Hyannis

Improving critical transportation access to regional healthcare facilities and economic hub is the focus of a $25 million application for federal funding by the Cape Cod Commission and Town of Barnstable.

Reconstruction of Yarmouth Road from the town line to its intersection with Route 28 is seen as one of the last public infrastructure investments needed to stimulate redevelopment of downtown Hyannis and the surrounding residential and commercial areas. Over the past decade, there has been significant public investment in the area, including a new Regional Transportation Center, a new airport terminal and access road, additional wastewater treatment capacity, streetscape improvements downtown and revitalization of public parks and gathering places.

The project proposal includes converting Yarmouth Road from two lanes to a four-lane boulevard with the addition of a bicycle-pedestrian path connecting the Cape Cod Rail Trail to the transit hub.

Removing the Yarmouth Road bottleneck would stimulate pent up private investment and economic development to the area. The direct impact of the project would improve access and travel time for workers, hospital patients, customers and others needing to reach jobs, businesses and social services in Hyannis, many coming from the rural Outer Cape.

Improvements at either end of the Yarmouth Road/Willow Street corridor have already been completed or committed. Yarmouth Road connects a recently completed $6 million upgrade of the Exit 7 interchange of Route 6, Cape Cod’s main highway, with a $10 million planned upgrade of the intersection with Route 28, a main commercial corridor. The design was approved as the preferred option in the Hyannis Implementation Plan, a 20-year, $100 million vision to improve access to the Village of Hyannis.

The addition of a multi-use path along Yarmouth Road will connect the region’s economic hub, Hyannis, to the region’s multi-use path network, the Cape Cod Rail Trail. A total of $23 million has been expended or is currently obligated to build-out the Cape Cod Rail Trail which will ultimately span 88 miles providing connections across Cape Cod.

The project would serve the entire Cape Cod region, including both urban and rural communities that use the Yarmouth Road corridor to access the region’s largest hospital, national and regional retail stores, a vibrant downtown and harbor district, the regional airport, the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority Transportation Center, and ferry service to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard islands, among other services and amenities.

Broad public support of the project has been consistently demonstrated through a series of public engagement processes and surveys.

The total TIGER funding request for this project is $25 Million. The Town of Barnstable will provide a local match of $7.8 million and oversee construction activities. Additional funding sources for the project are being investigated.

The application was submitted October 16, 2017. Award decisions are not expected until after the New Year.

Application documents, including letters of support, can be reviewed at www.capecodcommission.org/tiger2017.