At Salisbury Beach State Park, the recreational path along the riverside concrete seawall is popular with walkers, people with motorized scooters, and even the occasional horseback rider. Since October of this year, six large and several smaller sinkholes have formed in the pathway. The sinkholes are the result of sand eroding out from under the pathway by the seawall. One day a woman stopped me on my walk to warn me of a problem she had just had. As she walked along on what appeared to be solid ground one of her legs sunk down to her hip. Luckily she was uninjured. I documented and reported the problem to DCR park staff and their main office in Boston. I recommended that warning signs be posted and/or the area be fenced off and closed to the public until permanent repairs could be completed. I received no response from DCR. However, within a week DCR start filling the holes with sand, a stop gap solution that lasted less than two weeks before the holes re-opened. I contacted DCR a second time about the continuing problem. Since then three new large holes have been filled with rocks. This has slowed down the rate of erosion but is only a temporary fix. As of the first week of December a brand new sinkhole has started to form. Despite the obvious safety concerns, the pathway remains open to the public and no warning signs have been posted.
January 2026 update - The holes were filled in December with a mix of sand and rock. A number of them have begun to re-open again. They are about the size of a person's foot and hard to see (especially with snow cover). I have seen footprints from people walking right over them who didn't realize they were there. A real risk of a person or their dog getting injured.
