There is no evidence that those who first became concerned about the pollution of the Herring River explored any alternatives (such as dredging,) before settling on tidal restoration as the preferred solution. The timeline prepared by the Cape Cod National Seashore first identified water quality problems in the river in 1980. But the push to restore the salt marsh by increasing tidal flow began many years earlier.
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- "As early as 1973 eminent estuarine ecologists John Teal and Ivan Valiela, of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Boston University, respectively, recommended that the Town restore the salt marsh by replacing the dike with a bridge." and
- "Throughout the late 1970s, the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod supported studies to document tide heights and vegetative cover above the dike and lobbied for salt marsh restoration."
- No Action: Retain existing tide gates and manage tides under existing conditions.
- Open existing culverts to their maximum (18-feet wide) extent.
- Build a replacement structure with an opening width of 100-130 feet, fitted with sluice gates to manage tides.
- Build a bridge with no tide control at Chequessett Neck, and establish tide control structures at strategic upstream locations.
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