Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Roads Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
San Juan County road crew reports washouts, track failures and log jams; commissioners plan river and bridge work
Summary
County staff described major damage on Mineral Creek and Peking Road after spring melt, including a sink of about 6 feet, a dozer needing new tracks, and large log jams near Eureka that threaten utility poles; the county will reposition an excavator and consult the Corps of Engineers for longer-term fixes.
County road staff reported significant spring damage to several county routes and described immediate and planned responses to protect access and utilities.
Why it matters: Damage to Mineral Creek, Peking Road and other high-country routes threatens seasonal access for residents and emergency services, risks utility poles where the river has shifted, and may require expensive engineering work if natural erosion and slope failures continue.
At the meeting, a county staff member gave a field report: "When that road melted out, the water just finally won, and the whole road just sunk like 6 feet on the beaver side. So we put about 5 feet of slide rock in there, and then we've set about a foot of dirt," the Staff member said, describing emergency repairs and about 20 truckloads of gravel hauled to the site.
The crew also reported wear on a D6 dozer; staff said the machine's tracks and master link were failing and that new tracks arrived from Power Motive Corp. A staff speaker said they expect to get another 10,000 hours of undercarriage life if operators keep speeds slow and avoid rocky terrain.
Commissioners and staff discussed Peking Road, where narrowing shoulders and ongoing shoulder loss mean the county will need a substantial fix: options include drilling and blasting, re-routing onto private land with owner permission, cribbing, or heavy excavation to rebuild the road bed. "Something in there is gonna have to happen huge in the next few years or we're gonna end up closing it," a Staff member said.
Near Eureka and Silverwing the county reported large log jams and a gravel accumulation under the bridge that require river mitigation. Staff said two power poles now sit in about 2 feet of water where the river channel migrated. The county plans to move an excavator to re‑channel the river away from poles and the road as a short-term measure, and staff recommended consulting the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about a long-term solution. "We're gonna get it away from the telephone poles because if we have debris that comes down, that's the main concern," a Staff member said.
Staff also noted stockpiled gravel under the Eureka bridge that the county plans to clean out in fall low-water conditions and reuse, and warned that some riverbed cleanouts will require Corps of Engineers approval.
Ending: Commissioners directed staff to continue immediate stabilization work, document the scope and costs of options for Peking Road, notify utilities and adjacent landowners about the river work, and follow up with BLM and the Corps of Engineers about longer-term river migration and bridge/gravel management plans.
