The Powder Point Bridge: The Adults Take Control

Reporting and analysis

August 14, 2026 (Duxbury) — Two weeks ago, Frank Geisel, the president of Save the Powder Point Bridge, stood in front of the Selectboard and said it didn’t matter if the town lost up to $25,000,000 in federal funding for a new bridge.

I understand. Believe me, I understand what the consequences are because I hear the noise. Oh, the money’s going to go away. Oh my God, the money’s going to go away.

Could be. Still not my problem.

It’s not our problem and it’s not your problem to solve. I’m really in support of you from that perspective alone, from the decision-making, because their problems are not your problems. They’re making them our problem. They’re making them your problems. You have to be concerned about us losing our funding.

Unh-uh.

No.

Vice Chair Fernando Guitart had explained earlier that if the town doesn’t make a decision on whether to go ahead with the MassDOT bridge by February 2027, it could lose up to $25 million in funding.

Amy MacNab, the chair of the Selectboard, suggested that a Town Meeting might decide the bridge’s future.

“Do we want to explore if we’re comfortable making this type of decision, or are there ways we can try to seek other more public input, like a Special Town Meeting?” asked MacNab. “So I think that we need to have those types of conversations because of the enormity of this decision for the entire town is weighing heavy.”

The next day at 2:14 p.m., the Finance Committee posted an agenda for August 13, which included a discussion of the Powder Point Bridge.

Two days later, a Fiscal Advisory Committee meeting was scheduled for August 12, just to discuss the Powder Point Bridge. The Finance Committee would be in attendance for that meeting as well.

After a raucous meeting of the Fiscal Advisory Committee last Wednesday evening, the town’s financial leaders made it clear that losing up to $25 million in federal funding would be a Duxbury problem.

The two financial committees would work expeditiously to determine the relative costs of different proposals prior to February 2027 deadlines for losing funding. At that point, the town would have to make a decision about whether to go ahead with the project.

According to members and Town Manager Rene Read, meeting the deadline is important because the town has limited local funding options to pay for a $16–25 million1 restoration of the current bridge.

Read said that Duxbury does not have the money to fund such a project.

“Oh, people might hope that, but there’s no money for that,” said Read at the Finance Committee meeting.

“No,” said Finance Committee Chair Sullivan. “I mean you know we went through to get an override passed for a significantly lower amount.”

In March 2026, after a two-year battle, the town passed a $1.89 million operating override.

FinCom member Al Hoban expressed concerns about the town’s current debt levels.

With the option to fund the bridge locally effectively closed, said Read, the town would rely on the Section 106 process to determine the choices available to the town. If the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places rules that the bridge is historic, then the option for a wooden restoration may open up. A decision is expected by Columbus Day.

“A group called Save Powder Point Bridge has filed what’s called a Section 106 appeal,” he said, “where they’re trying to see if the bridge can be deemed historic at the federal level, and if it is, that would perhaps change course with the DOT project and may have a different result. So it may turn into a wooden bridge project.”

At that point, the town would have to decide which option it wants.

“From a citizen’s perspective, I would like to know the cost of renovation and maintenance for the next let’s say 25 years compared to the concrete for the next 25 years, so that I could make a decision,” said long-time FinCom member Jackson ‘J.R.’ Kent, Jr. “I would prefer a wooden structure, but I know our financial position. And if we’re going to spend next to nothing in 25 years with a concrete structure, and we’re going to spend $25 million, $17 million, whatever the figure is for a wood structure, then I would be compelled to go to a concrete structure. But I would like to know that financially before[hand].”

At the Fiscal Advisory meeting, Hoban, who is the retired comptroller of MassHousing, was particularly vocal about the dangers of losing the federal funding.

The DOT on their current reservation page, which anybody can look up, has a reservation for $172 million.

Okay, here’s another kind of fact or maybe opinion, and I apologize if it seems like an opinion. There is a lifespan for a $172 million reservation. That’s number one.

Number two. I’m going to be very subjective and give you my opinion. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is not a favorite state in the current national administration.

I mean, no criticism of anybody, but I think we need to be realistic. What’s the availability of funding? How do we access it? And what’s the time frame?

So the key is, and I think [Duxbury Historical Commission and Powder Point Bridge Advisory Chair] Ed Mayo did an outstanding job in exploring all kinds of different avenues, many of which I did not know. And I will probably do some research on that. But I think as we come together, it’s a key point to understand. And I do have a background in government because I worked and ran municipal agencies in Western Massachusetts. I was a consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers. So I have a background in this stuff, and I kind of understand how government works.

The fact of the matter is DOT is working very carefully with us, with Ed Mayo’s group, the entire town, etc. And I think what we need to do is to say everyone loves the Powder Point Bridge. That is not an issue.

The issue is when we put our feet on the ground and think about what is the best long-term solution, we need to come to grips with the fact that the town we love has some financial constraints. And what is the best pathway forward within those financial constraints to give a solution to everyone that is best.

And, you know, this is America and America’s open to compromise. We’re not a perfect union, but we’re seeking it. And so I just wanted to add that. And I appreciate your listening.

At the Finance Committee meeting the next night, Hoban expressed some additional concerns.

I read the 13-page report that the bridge committee issued. I thought it was very well done, very well thought out, and I have it with me, and I underlined many of the pages. There are what I would call a number of asks in the report, and they’re very reasonable asks.

But my sense of what I’ve read is that the asks will require a couple of things that are in limited supply. One is time, and the other is money…

So, as far as the time is concerned, and I'm going to admit ignorance about the inner workings of the Mass DOT, but I do have enough ability to go on to the DOT's website and look at their funding reservation for $172 million, and there is a schedule about the drawdowns, etc. What I couldn't find and again it may be a lack on my part is when the terminus is when they decide this is not going to work.

So that's not clear as in so far as the bridge committee's report there are a number of things that I think are very nice to know etc.

So my overwhelming response as I went through this not once but twice today in great detail in respect to the report itself, I kept asking myself where's the money going to come from? Because the ask, and again I confess ignorance because I don't understand their inner workings about if we as a town or a committee of concerned citizens, which has very dedicated people working on this, okay, who spent many many hours doing this work, how does the DOT respond? Do they have budgetary authority? Those are some things that I would like to know and I hope that we can have a discussion with the DOT.

At the suggestion of Fiscal Advisory Chair Alex Chin, Read has prepared a proposal for tonight’s Selectboard meeting to second one member each of the Fiscal Advisory and Finance Committees to the Powder Point Bridge Advisory Committee to address funding and finance issues.

Members of SPPB attended both meetings. They want a wood bridge.

A separate article will explain the debate about the cost of owning a concrete and steel bridge.