Massachusetts Begins Seizing Homes Through Eminent Domain To Make Way for Cape Cod Bridge Project

The state of Massachusetts has begun seizing homes through eminent domain to make way for the construction of a new bridge on Cape Cod, which officials say is vital to the region's economy. 

The state Department of Transportation (MassDOT) reported that, as of Wednesday, it has taken possession of the first three deeds out of the 13 residential properties slated to be taken over as part of the $2.1 billion Sagamore Bridge replacement project.

A fourth deed is expected to be turned over to the state later this week.

Luisa Paiewonsky, executive director of MassDOT's Mega Projects Delivery Office, tells Realtor.com® the agency is spacing out deed transfers to ensure that not all homeowners are looking for replacement properties at the same time.

"We commit to treating them with utmost respect, acknowledgment of the disruption that this is causing, and of full commitment for full compensation for their homes and for their relocation expenses," she says.

Eminent domain grants governments the power to seize private land for public use in exchange for market value compensation—the price a hypothetical buyer would have paid on the open market the day the state made its claim. 

The first checks from MassDOT went out to homeowners in the Round Hill section of Bourne, MA, over the weekend. 

Property owners will have 120 days to move out, unless they enter into an agreement with MassDOT to stay longer if they need more time to find new accommodations. In that case, they will have to pay rent to the state.  

Officials say MassDOT will cover each owner's relocation expenses as mandated by law and also help find new homes to purchase. 

Uprooted homeowners speak out

Joyce Michaud, one of the three people to lose their home to eminent domain last week, told CBS Boston the stress of being forcibly uprooted has robbed her of her sleep and concentration. 

"I feel like maybe this is just a dream and I'm going to wake up. I'm nervous, I'm very nervous, and it's affecting my health," she said.

Michaud has lived in her home for 27 years. Now, she has four months to pack up and move, though she does not yet know where.  

The woman told the outlet that while she did receive a fair market value for her property, it does not make the situation any better.

"I would rather not have the money," Michaud said. "In fact, I would be willing to pay them if they let me stay here forever."

In a separate interview with Boston 25, Michaud said that when she closed on her house in Bourne in the late 1990s, she thought of it as her final property purchase.

"I just wanted to glide through the rest of my life. ... So, no more gliding," said Michaud.

In August, Realtor.com brought the story of Marc and Joan Hendel, Michaud's neighbors who had learned that their home would be seized by eminent domain just a month after they moved in.

"We were lost for words," Joan told Realtor.com at the time, describing the moment she and Marc received a letter from the state notifying them that the land they bought in 2023—along with the residence they built on it—would be taken away. 

Speaking to CBS Boston this week, Joan said she and her husband feel like they have been "bulldozed" by the state. 

To aggrieved residents like the Hendels and Michaud, Paiewonsky says: "We empathize with their plight. We will give them very fair settlements for their homes and the land."

Paiewonsky says she and her colleagues regularly talk to the soon-to-be-displaced residents, and MassDOT acquisition teams are working to find them comparable for-sale homes in the area, if they choose to remain on Cape Cod.

MassDOT defends use of eminent domain

Yet, Paiewonsky says there is no getting around the fact that the 90-year-old Sagamore Bridge must be replaced.

"It's not getting younger. It's absolutely vital to the people of Cape Cod," she says.

The Sagamore Bridge is one of two bridges on the Cape that's slated to be replaced, with the other being the Bourne Bridge. The two spans, which opened in 1935, are Cape Cod's only roadway connections to the mainland, carrying 38 million trips a year.  

 In 2020, the Army Corps of Engineers deemed the bridges "functionally obsolete." 

"They are some of the most important transportation infrastructure in the Commonwealth, and they have such a large economic impact, not only on Cape Cod, but they also have a measurable impact on the Massachusetts economy," explains Paiewonsky. "Tens of thousands of workers cross the bridges every day to get to their works, and the bridges are also the only roadway evacuation route in case of a disaster."

The project director points out that before resorting to eminent domain, MassDOT looked at several alternatives, including consolidating bridges or building a tunnel instead, but these options involved either greatly inflated costs or significant right-of-way impacts.

"We would have been happy to have zero property takings, but the size of the bridge and the need for the bridge were so great that it was an unavoidable impact," explains Paiewonsky.

The Sagamore project is currently undergoing an environmental permitting process, which is expected to conclude this summer, with construction work slated to begin in early 2028. The eastbound span of the new bridge is projected to be completed in 2033, followed by the westbound span in 2036.