Fishing, trash, urination creating problems at Cohasset Narrows Bridge

Paul Gately
·2 min read

BUZZARDS BAY – Bourne and Wareham authorities have been considering a problem unfolding on the William Dalton Memorial Bridge, commonly referred to as the Cohasset Narrows Bridge, with anglers casting into the channel below the span and sometimes endangering boaters.

Bourne Town Administrator Marlene McCollem has also been asked to consider other issues at the bridge on the Bourne/Wareham town line, notably uncollected trash and public urination at a nearby stretch of Buttermilk Bay Beach.

Two towns looking to address problems

Before the bridge was reconstructed in 2014/15 under a state contract, anglers would cast their lines from the east and west ends of the span. Now they congregate in the middle of the bridge, fishing in the channel utilized by boaters in and out of the bay and Sias Point Channel.

Bourne and Wareham officials are working to address problems with anglers casting on the Cohasset Narrows Bridge into the channel below the span and sometimes endangering boaters.
Bourne and Wareham officials are working to address problems with anglers casting on the Cohasset Narrows Bridge into the channel below the span and sometimes endangering boaters.

Bourne Natural Resources Director/Harbormaster Chris Southwood said Monday solutions are being sought.

“Bourne and Wareham have been dealing with this issue,” he said. “We’ve been in contact with the (Massachusetts) Environmental Police and state Department of Transportation since this is a state-owned bridge.

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“We’re looking into possible options to address this (fishing) issue.”

“It’s become a safety problem,” Selectmen Chair Peter Meier said. “They’re casting lines right on top of the channel, and it’s a threat to boaters below, passing beneath the bridge.”

Meier said the distinctive span is a popular fishing spot for tautog and flounder, but not bass or bluefish.

Meier also said anglers and others have taken to depositing trash at either end of the span with collection not being a timely consideration. This, he said, has evolved over the past three years, and he suggests a volunteer program of sorts might be worked out with Wareham to collect the trash and fishing debris.

Then there is the matter of reports about public urination at the beach below the Buzzards Bait shop on the Buzzards Bay side of the span. It is more than a public nuisance, Meier said.

Bridge renamed for former Bourne official

Middlesex Corp. re-constructed the Cohasset Narrows Bridge in 2013/14, widening motoring lanes and upgrading sidewalks. The span is named in memory of longtime planning board member, the late William Dalton, who died in 1998 and was an engineer for the Massachusetts Highway Department.

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The bridge was once a key feature along the old traffic-clogged Cranberry Highway approach to the Bourne Bridge and Cape Cod. The span is an historical footnote.

It is the first bridge in Massachusetts history that the state allowed to be financed via collective municipal bonding by two communities, notably Bourne and Wareham. A 1921 bridge picture hangs in the Barnstable Superior Courthouse at Route 6A.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Fishing, trash, urination problems at Cohasset Narrows Bridge