After speaking with the bridge engineers, we have realized that there is no responsible way to repair the bridge. It would need to be rebuilt, which the federal and state governments are not going to pay for. To read more about how we came to this conclusion, please read this story. Please also see this one about how plans to fix the bridge ran into trouble when we realized that doing so would require using chemicals toxic to oysters and clams. 

The good news, however, is that MassDOT hired a prominent architect to help the town design the bridge and give the town de facto historical status on the bridge. We are confident that they will design a historically faithful replica of the bridge, and if not, we will come back to you for help. 
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Outdated information from the original petition. 

In July 2027, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts plans to knock down the historic Powder Point Bridge, the longest wooden bridge in America. In its place, they plan to build a $172 million concrete and metal highway bridge.  

To prevent MassDOT from tearing down the bridge, Save Our Bridge, a registered nonprofit, has prepared the following petition which asks the National Park Service to grant the bridge historic status. If that happens, MassDOT will be forced to consider REPAIRING the current bridge instead of destroying it. Duxbury would still get federal and state funding to fix the bridge, but on our terms. We estimate repairs will save the state and federal government about $132 million, money which can be spent to repair roads and bridges elsewhere in the state.

Our Petition to the National Park Service 

For more than a century, the rhythmic thump, thump, thump of our wheels hitting the wooden planks of the Powder Point Bridge has signaled our arrival in another world. On the slow ride to the beach, we see our neighbors and friends fishing or walking across the bridge, the beautiful vistas of Duxbury Bay and the marshes of the Back River on either side of us. By the time we get to the beach, the worries of our everyday lives have faded away, and we find ourselves surrounded by waves, sand, and water – our community all around us. 

Now all that is threatened because worms have eaten part of the wooden pilings that hold up the bridge. Instead of fixing those pilings, the state wants to knock down the whole structure and replace it with a concrete and metal highway bridge that we don’t want and that we never asked for.  

We ask you, the National Park Service, to help us protect the bridge that we have nurtured for over a century. During that time, we have pulled up all the pilings, and we have replaced all the planks, but it is still the same bridge, the one our great-grandparents built for us back in the 1890s.  

Please grant the Powder Point Bridge and its associated neighborhoods, vistas, and beaches historical status so we can protect them for future generations.  

When you sign, please take a moment to tell the National Park Service why the bridge is so important to you.

Anyone of any age and in any place can sign this petition to save the Powder Point Bridge.

This petition is sponsored by Save Our Bridge, Inc. a 501(c)(3) corporation started by a group of Duxbury residents dedicated to saving the Powder Point Bridge for generations to come.
Artwork courtesy of  John O'Sullivan.

For more information on our efforts, please see the Save Our Bridge website.