Driving to the Cape this summer? What to know before you go

The good news if you're traveling to the Cape this summer: The bridges haven't shut down for repairs — yet.

• The bad news: Traffic, lots of it.

The big picture: More than 120,000 vehicles cross the Bourne and Sagamore bridges daily during the summer months, per data from the Cape Cod Commission.

State of play: State crews gave the Bourne rotary, just south of the Bourne Bridge, a facelift, the Cape Cod Times reported.

• That includes new entry and exit lane barriers to better direct traffic.

Yes, but: The changes will slightly alleviate traffic, not eliminate it altogether.

• Rotaries "don't behave well under extremely high volumes," Shaun Handy, an assistant project development engineer at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, told the Times.

Meanwhile, the state has been doing maintenance on the Bass River Bridge, more than two years after the feds found it structurally deficient and in poor condition.

• The bridge connects West Dennis and South Yarmouth on Route 28.
• The maintenance work began in January and is set to finish in May before most of the tourists arrive, per the Times.
• Officials are putting out bids for a $40 million replacement project later this year.

Follow the money: The route to the Cape is still toll-free, for now.

Catch up fast : Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt told WCVB in March officials aren't looking at new tolls as they figure out how to pay for the Bourne and Sagamore bridges' $4.5 billion replacement.

• But officials haven't ruled them out, either.

Where you do have to pay: Entry/parking at beaches.

• The National Parks are charging $15-25 for a pass, depending on whether you're a pedestrian or a car full of people.
• Town beaches charge even more.

If you don't want to drive, the ferry gets from Boston to Provincetown quickly, starting at $76 a trip.

Plus: There are always the beaches closer to home in Nahant, Revere and Boston — if the bacteria levels aren't too high.

Sign up for Axios Boston for free.