Cyclists and pedestrians in West Yarmouth no longer have to dodge traffic on one of the Cape's most hazardous multi-lane roads. Crews lifted a new 182-foot steel bridge into place over Willow Street during an overnight closure, giving the Cape Cod Rail Trail its first uninterrupted link between Barnstable and Yarmouth.
The bridge sits near the Route 6 eastbound on-ramp and rises about 25 feet above the roadway, according to Hyannis News, which captured the installation with aerial footage and stills credited to Paul Leidenfrost alongside its own video and photos. The outlet reports the steel span now lets cyclists and pedestrians safely cross what had long been a dangerous stretch of road and reach the paved trail without conflict.
Crews scheduled the heavy lifting for an overnight closure of Willow Street between Route 6/Exit 72 and Higgins Crowell Road, shutting the roadway from 8 p.m. Thursday until 5 a.m. Friday, per Capecod.com. That timing lines up with the bridge going up as West Yarmouth residents woke up Friday morning to find the span already in place.
Part of an Eight-Mile Phase 3 Push
The new crossing is one piece of the Cape Cod Rail Trail's Phase 3 extension, an eight-mile build connecting Yarmouth and Barnstable that the Cape Cod Times pegs at an overall cost of $16.39 million. The project includes a multi-use path, four key alternative pedestrian bridges, and a range of other infrastructure improvements, the newspaper reports, with construction expected to wrap up in 2031.
Preconstruction work on the effort began in 2024, and Lawrence-Lynch Corp. has served as the general contractor managing the project, according to a report from The Cool Down. That outlet also describes the Willow Street span as the connection that finally lets riders cross the busy four-lane road without weaving through traffic. VHB's project materials note that construction of Phase 3 in Barnstable got underway in early 2025.
The Towns of Yarmouth and Barnstable have been collaborating on the extension, according to the Cape Cod Commission, which describes the new section running from Peter Homer Park in Yarmouth to Mary Dunn Road in Barnstable. Reports describe the existing trail's length differently — the Commission puts it at approximately 25 miles from South Yarmouth to Wellfleet, while the Cape Cod Times describes it as about 22 miles between Wellfleet and Yarmouth.
Fitting Into a Bigger Regional Vision
From the new bridge, the rail trail heads east toward Wellfleet and the Outer Cape, according to Hyannis News. The installation also advances Vision 88, a long-term regional planning effort led by the Cape Cod Commission that aims to build an approximately 88-mile network of mostly off-road, paved shared-use paths for cyclists and pedestrians stretching from Woods Hole to Provincetown, per the same outlet.
That Vision 88 network is planned to include connections to the Shining Sea Bikeway area in Falmouth and the Province Lands trails, Hyannis News reports. The Cape Cod Commission has said Vision 88 is meant to create a continuous path spanning the Cape, and the agency planned to begin collecting data across existing and planned trail corridors starting in summer 2026, with work continuing into 2027 as needed.
An online comment tool and interactive bicycle map were expected to launch this fall, the Commission says, with a draft report following in spring 2027 and a final report incorporating public feedback anticipated that fall. Looking further down the road, VHB is also designing a Phase 4 extension that would add nine miles westward to the Barnstable-Sandwich town line, with the broader project ultimately aiming to reach Sandwich and the Cape Cod Canal recreational path.
Phase 3's footprint has already drawn municipal attention beyond the bridge itself. The Cape Cod Times reported that Barnstable's Department of Public Works scheduled a virtual public hearing on a proposal to remove 91 trees within the Mary Dunn Road layout, adjacent to town-owned property, to make way for the extension. Separately, Barnstable Community Preservation Commission minutes show the chair sought a construction update on Phases 3 and 4 from the Department of Public Works for the commission's annual meeting last October.
