YOU ASKED: What do you think CP Rail is going to do with the large boulders they have deposited beside their tracks at River Road and Oriole Road in Valleyview? They also have a large excavator on site that has been spreading ballast near the tracks at Oriole Road. Are they concerned about riverbank erosion? Will these large boulders be going into the river? Thanks.

— Jim Freathy

OUR ANSWER: There’s nothing quite like rocks by rail tracks or a river to pique one’s curiosity. In fact, Jim, you are the second person to ask our Readers’ Reporter about this very issue.

Back in September (a few months after the boulders were deposited beside the CP Rail tracks) Daily News reader C. Percy asked us to find out what was going on.

We learned that the large rocks are called riprap and they were placed alongside the tracks in last spring by CP Rail to protect the rail line from the threat of high water from a spring melt.

The idea was that the big rocks would absorb and deflect incoming waves during high water.

But, the flood protection was never needed, so the riprap sat for almost a year.

Now, CP is moving the rocks to the river to stabilize the banks, said CP Rail’s Salem Woodrow.

Signs have already gone up on the nearby walking trail to notify pedestrians of the construction.

Woodrow said riverbank erosion is a concern in that area.