Bourne

Walk, bike or rollerblade along the Cape Cod Canal, (http://www.nae.usace.army...).

Fish the canal or just watch the ships and boats pass through.

Watch the Bourne Braves play in Cape Cod Baseball League action. Upper Cape Regional Technical School -- Over Bourne Bridge. At the rotary, go three-quarters of the way around and bear right onto Sandwich Road. The school is ahead atop a hill to the right.

Salt water fishing is permitted from the Canal banks in all areas except the Canal Administration and Massachusetts Maritime Academy area. Fishing is also available from the Scusset Beach fishing pier. Fishing and lobstering is subject to state regulations and licensing. Taking of herring is subject to Town of Bourne regulations and quotas.

U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Visitor Center

Ed moffitt dr., sandwich directions: over sagamore bridge onto cape cod, route 6, take exit 1, right at light onto rt. 6a, after entering sandwich, left onto tupper rd, left onto freezer rd. at aqua, right onto moffitt dr, follow signs +1 508-833-9678. free. all about the canal, including how it is watched and run. well worth the trip.

Cape Cod Recreation Hotline

+1 508-759-5991.

Some of the recreational uses and facilities are:

Convenient Canal access points have been developed and equipped with parking lots, picnic areas and rest rooms.

Two service roads which parallel both sides of the Canal are available for bicycling, rollerblading, jogging and walking. Each service Road is about 7 mi 11 km long. Locals use these year round.

The Canal provides a close-up view of ocean going ships and tugs underway as they go between Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod Bay. All manner of ships go through including cruise ships, cargo ships, tankers and jumbo car carriers. During the school year, locals and enthusiasts can get the treat of seeing the ship at the Mass Maratime Academy leaving dock and heading out to sea

The Cape Cod Canal and its bridges are the most striking features of Bourne and hosts a variety of recreational activities. The primary purpose of the Canal is to provide a safe navigation channel for vessels. Because of the treacherous seas along the outer beaches of Cape Cod, the idea of the canal was considered as early as the 1620s. Finally it was constructed between 1909 and 1914. The Canal saves about 135 miles of open sea travel on average. Since 1928 the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has operated the waterway toll free to adequately powered vessels. The Corps of engineers maintains the three bridges that span the canal and also manages the Canal for public recreational use.

If adequately powered, recreational vehicles are permitted to use the canal. Sailing is prohibited; sailboats must use auxiliary power. Vessels must stay to the right and give way to larger vessels. There is a 10 MPH speed limit and a no wake policy enforced by the Corps of Engineers, located in Buzzards Bay.

Swimming and scuba diving are prohibited

In the canal due to the often swift current.

Beaches

While swimming directly in the canal is strictly prohibited due to the swift current, bourne does offer a select few beach coves safe from the current.

The East Boat Basin on the south side of the Canal in Sandwich has slips for recreational and commercial vessels. On a fee basis, boaters may use the marina's slips or boat ramp. On the west end of the Canal the Buttermilk Bay channel provides boaters access to the Taylor point Marina operated by the Town of Bourne.

The Corps of Engineers leases land to the Bourne Recreation Authority for Bourne Scenic Park campground and to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for Scusset Beach State Reservation where recreational vehicles may use camp sites.

The traffic bridges that span the canal were built simultaneously in the early 1930s to replace the cantilevered spans before them. The Sagamore Bridge and Bourne Bridge are four lanes wide, have a span of 616 ft 187.75 m and leave a vertical clearance of 135 ft 41 m above high water. Over 35,000,000 car trips cross the bridges each year.

The unusual "vertical lift" railroad bridge, also built in the early 1930s, has a 544 ft 166 m horizontal span with 271 ft 83 m high towers. The bridge is normally kept in the raised position 135 ft 41 m above mean high water. Train trips used to be very important, but now the railroad bridge is used mainly for trash removal trains.