Duxbury road crew tackles winter mud season repairs

January 5, 2024  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Noon Sunday, Jan. 7: Plowing on upper Camels Hump Road this morning was difficult and unsuccessful. Sections of Ward Hill are also in poor condition. Town officials advise residents to drive slowly with caution.

9 p.m. Friday: This post was updated with the most recent communication from town officials. 

River Road grading soon after the Dec. 17-18 heavy rains and flooding. Photo by Gordon Miller

The Duxbury Highway Department worked all week to repair roads that have deteriorated following heavy December rains and recent mild temperatures. 

Town officials sent out several daily announcements with updates on road work progress. As of Friday night, the bulletin from the town office said the week concluded with road conditions much improved from what they were after New Year’s Day: “The Road Crew finished the week with the majority all of the roads in town passable. Given the conditions we had, residents should be able to travel without dealing with the frozen mudholes we were left with at the beginning of the week,” town officials said in their Friday update. 

The road crew by Friday was also looking ahead to be prepared for a weekend snowstorm and they are keeping an eye on the forecast for more precipitation next week. 

Despite the progress, however,  a section of Camels Hump Road remains a high concern. It will need extensive work due to a failed culvert and ongoing erosion, town officials said.

Highway Foreman Brian Gibbs met with Percy Construction to assess the problem spot. “The location is a very tenuous one with a bank that continues to slide toward Ridley Brook,” the update noted. “This was a major problem area in 2011 after the spring storm and [Tropical Storm] Irene.”

Excavation and repair work is scheduled for next week, although the fix is not expected to be permanent. “The goal is to make the road passable for the balance of the winter,” the latest update explained.

Below are summaries of the prior updates which also are posted in the Waterbury Roundabout Road Work column on the News page. New announcements will be posted there when available.

Thursday’s update 

As of Thursday night, two roads were left to be addressed on Friday: Dowsville and Turner Hill roads. 

An evaluation was planned for Friday on the spot on upper Camels Hump Road where a hole has opened up due to a culvert separation, town officials said in their most recent update. “The outlet side of the culvert has dropped approximately 3 feet, pulling apart the culvert causing the separation,” according to the announcement. 

Town officials ask residents in that area and beyond it to to refrain from driving on the deteriorated side and to use the “uphill” lane instead. In addition, residents were asked to check their levels of fuel oil and propane in case they were expecting deliveries soon in order to notify their suppliers. “We believe fuel trucks can access their customers if needed by traveling on the uphill side,” they said. 

More information will be shared soon on the schedule for the repairs.

In the interim, if the roads need plowing due to upcoming storms, the road crew will use a pickup to plow that section rather than a full-sized truck. 

The road update came with a caution that the current round of repairs is likely to deplete the town’s gravel supply. “Please keep this in mind when we deal with the Town Budget for FY24/25 in the near future,” town officials added in their message. 

New year begins with extensive road repairs 

This week’s first message from town officials began by explaining that the road crew was making slower progress on smoothing out rutted roads than they had planned. “The hope was a bit of cold weather would firm up the roads and a hopeful warm spell would allow the grader to even things out. Scratch that idea with temperatures in the 20s just barely making it into the 30s later on Tuesday,” town officials shared in a message late Tuesday. “The crew is hauling gravel that is stored in our pit, filling in the ruts and holes and grading as best as possible.”

The plan midweek was to work on Camels Hump Road to the point of the intersection with Scrabble Hill Road, then address Mountain View and complete Camels Hump Road. 

Of great concern is a section on Camels Hump Road above Scrabble Hill where a large hole has opened up due to a failing culvert. “The town does not have the equipment to tackle this repair as originally thought. The unknown scope of the damage also currently limits the trucks we can send up there because of weight limitations,” the town update explained.   

Fixes were planned for Crossett Hill, Turner Hill, Ward Hill, Welch and Dowsville roads with the goal to upgrade as many roads as possible before snow later in the week and over the weekend. “It is critical to get things smoothed out in order to prevent damage to the plows and trucks,” they said. 

Town officials promised more updates as work progresses. 

Residents can sign up for Duxbury town government emails on the town website.