DUXBURY — September 28, 2026 — The Federal Highway Administration has determined that the existing Powder Point Bridge is not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and has declined a preservation group’s request to send the question to the register’s keeper, according to a letter the town manager shared with the Duxbury Selectboard on Monday, the day it arrived.
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The letter arrived by email around 5 p.m. from a U.S. Department of Transportation environmental program manager, Town Manager René Read said. It responds to two requests from the group Save Powder Point Bridge: to be named a Section 106 consulting party, and to have the Federal Highway Administration forward a request for a determination of eligibility to the Keeper of the National Register. The agency accepted the group as a consulting party on Aug. 18. It refused the second request.
It is our determination the existing Powder Point Bridge over Duxbury Bay located in Duxbury is not eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
— Federal Highway Administration letter 1:39:09
The letter says the original 1891 bridge was eligible for listing but was heavily damaged by fire on June 11, 1985, demolished and replaced in 1986 by a new timber bridge of a different design. It describes the current bridge as having major structural deficiencies, particularly in its timber piles, as weight posted at four tons, and as being in exceedingly poor engineering condition. It found insufficient documentation that the bridge qualifies as a traditional cultural place under Department of the Interior standards, and said its finding agrees with a Nov. 22, 2024, eligibility opinion letter between MassDOT and the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
The letter leaves an opening. It invites the group to give MassDOT additional documentation in the ongoing Section 106 process and says the agency would be willing to reconsider or go to the keeper of the NRHP if sufficient evidence emerges. Read said a contact reached by phone explained that the group now has standing, the federal government does not consider the bridge historic, and it would be up to the group to go to the keeper directly. The keeper has made no determination, the town manager said, and the state transportation process continues.
Chair Amy MacNab asked why the board should not submit a request to the keeper itself to get a determination and move the project forward.
That’s a change in direction from where the Board currently stands. Because right now the Board back in September decided to move forward with the MassDOT project.
— René Read, Town Manager 1:45:11
Board members differed on what to do next. Fernando Guitart called the letter ambiguous and wanted to ask Read’s contact directly how to reach a final answer. Michael McGee said the matter was not on the agenda, that further deliberation was premature and that it should be scheduled with room for the public. MacNab asked that it return in about two weeks.
Read also said a list of questions about 12 pages long from the Powder Point Bridge Advisory Committee went well beyond the committee’s scope. Brian Glennon asked for an overall status update in a couple of weeks, noting the town is still paying every year to keep the bridge open and must eventually decide whether to stay with MassDOT or pursue rehabilitation of the existing structure.
