Is It Mud Season Yet??

[Henry]

I believe we have come a long way in Mud Season.  Our Fairfax Road Crews works very hard to keep all of our roads passable, even during Mud Season.  Although there are still complaints about Route 128, I doubt that it gets as bad now as during my early years of travelling down that road in the spring in the 50s & 60s.  Every single culvert used to drop and you had to slow down to about 5 mph to go through it.  The highway department used to put up numerous frost heave signs and eventually decided they couldn't keep up with them and would put a sign up at the Westford Town Line just beyond The Browns River Bridge that said, "Frost Heaves The Next 7 Miles."

At times we would try going over The Woods Hollow Road, but that also got so bad that you could not get through because of the mud & ruts, so the only other alternative was to drive over to Milton, go down the Middle Road, then take Route 2 to Essex Junction.  Back in the late 1980s they decided they were going to fix Route 128, once and for all.  They started off at the Westford Town Line just above the Browns River Bridge and dug way down deep where every year there was a big frost heave that would almost send your car flying through the air if you were not aware of it.  They filled it with gravel and stone and I believe it has stayed pretty good since then.  They did a tremendous amount of work from Westford Village, past Don Pouliot's Farm, over through the ledges almost to the Old Stygles Trailer Park.  It took them several years to do it, however, they did finish it about a year or so before I retired in 1992.

They never did redo the road in front of The Old Stygles Trailer Park, which is right at the end of The Westford Town Line.  That was always really bad and it is said that the reason it is that way is because it goes through a swamp and the base is old logs.  I really doubt that, but it doesn't seem to get as bad there as it used to.  Of course, I no longer travel it every day.

My growing up on Fairfield Ridge has a lot to do with where I live right now.  Back in 1968 when I was thinking of buying or building another house, I had looked at a house down on River Road.  One of the big draw backs for me was that it was a dirt road and I had flash backs of trying to get through the mud in the spring, all of a sudden hearing my car start making a loud noise and looking in my rear view mirror and seeing my muffler sitting on top of the ground in the mud and thinking, "Oh Crap, now I've got to order a new muffler from Sears Roebuck, there goes $9 down the drain."    Mufflers from Sears for the Old 1935 Plymouth cost $9 back in those days.  Thus, I decided to stick to the blacktop roads.  At least here, the worst that can happen is I have to leave my car at the end of my driveway.

I do believe a few years ago that The Town Of Fairfax started a program where each year the did some special road construction in the worst parts of Mud Season Roads and as of now, from what I hear things are not bad.  I know I used to look down Wilkins Road and that used to be really bad in the spring, but not it doesn't look bad.  I think they have also done some work on Shepardson Hollow Road and The River Road is now all blacktop, I believe.

I'm sure our Mail Carriers and School Bus Drivers might have a different take on this, but that is my take on Mud Season and really happy living where I live.

[Suzy]

I can feel those bumps as I sit here in Wyoming... I know exactly where you're talking about, without ever really knowing the name of the trailer park, but I know to slow down for the roller coaster ride!

Happy Spring!  Have some warm maple syrup for me, and perhaps a donut to go with it....homemade variety, of course!

[bfsmith9]

Wow - I never realized that they had actually done work like that on 128 in the past. I travel it almost every day during the week. There are certain spots you need to watch out for, and slow down to around 25. (Fortunately I usually drive with my spouse, and she says "bump" when one of those spots is coming - otherwise I remember the hard way). And as spring approaches the bumps get more numerous, popping up in unexpected places.

So 25 mph is a big improvement over 5 mph! It's still a bad road, but what are you going to do? This is Vermont.

[dw]

in the past two weeks RT 128 has become a carnival ride;  I have to leave for work at least 10 minutes early ONLY because of the potholes and bumps.  Suspensions on cars take a beating on 128.  It is HORRIBLE this year - yet about the same as every year . . .

I do like to see the "regulars" vs the "newbies";  those that know when to slow AND even move over to the other lane . . . for those "regulars" you all know what I mean!

[Corm]

Hi Henry.

This quote from your note - "...and the base is old logs" made me smile. I heard years ago the old timers in our area who used to travel that road regularly called it a "corduroy" road. Now I know why!

Corm

[Henry]

Another Tale about Route 128 is that when they blacktopped it, they didn't bother improving the base, they just wanted to get it blacktopped and that is just what they did.  Somewhere I have a photo of Albert Rich's Model T on Route 128 stuck in the Mud - Albert had told me where it was, but I forgot the location.  Route 128, before its frost heaves and black top was obviously not a pretty sight.

[Judi]

Does anyone know what the average is that you should expect a paved road to last?  River road is horrible and the black top is only a few years old.  That is a lot of tax money thrown away if you are right that it is because the base was not done correctly.