OXFORD — Rabbit Valley Road in Oxford has been assaulted by severe weather in recent years, with sections of driveway and road culverts washing out, its pavement and shoulders giving way and causing serious erosion issues downhill within the Hogan & Whitney Pond watershed.

It seems that every rainstorm brings damage to some part of Rabbit Valley Road, as seen in this December 2023 photo when western Maine was pummeled by extreme weather. Submitted photo

After sustaining damage that sometimes left residents stranded and kept Oxford’s Highway Department in a loop of repairing the road, replacing culverts and digging its ditches ever deeper, the neighborhood is looking at a brighter future, thanks to its inclusion with Maine’s $25.2 million storm recovery grants.

Oxford is one of 39 communities approved for the program and will receive $1.6 million to rebuild Rabbit Valley Road. Oxford will be responsible to match the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund grant with $85,000.

Oxford residents had already approved emergency repairs and for a engineering design to rebuild the road during annual town meeting in June. And going back a year before that, Highway Foreman Jim Bennett had warned town selectmen that his crew could replace at least 10 culverts, dig washout from existing ditches and add riprap, but the scope of such a project but would keep his crew from repairing storm-damaged roads in other parts of town, and the work would be, at best, a band-aid approach that would not last long.

No matter how much repair and preventative work Oxford’s Highway Department attempts on Rabbit Valley Road, the ditches quickly fill up, undermining pavement and shoulders and washing gravel downhill, threatening Hogan and Whitney ponds. Submitted photos

Monday, Town Manager Adam Garland told the Advertiser Democrat that engineering plans for reconstructed roadway were already in progress.

“We’re looking at a installing a drainage system similar to what was built on Allen Hill Road,” Garland said. “With curbs to prevent washouts and erosion. Rain water will enter underground drainage. It should stop the damage and eliminate the ongoing issues of sediment threatening the watershed and both ponds.

“After every weather event driveways have washed out, erosion has occurred and culverts have had to be reset. We keep digging the ditches deeper but they continue to be undermined by these storms.”

Garland said it was a multi-tiered effort to apply for the grant, with Rob Prue of Pine Tree Engineering, Richmond-based grant writer Darryl Sterling, Oxford administrative staff and Bennett collaborating to complete the 20-page application submitted to the Maine Department of Transportation.

The next step is to hurry up and wait; the acceptance letter Garland received from MDOT’s chief engineer Joyce Noel Taylor, said officials from her department will be in contact later this summer to complete a grant agreement between Oxford and the state.

“We’re all pretty excited here,” Garland offered. “Residents of Rabbit Valley Road have been asking for help for a long time. We want them to know we are listening to their concerns and doing our best to address the town’s infrastructure issues.”