BACK IN ACTION — Workers put the finishing touches on barriers shortly before state Route 7 was reopened Friday.
— Contributed
MINGO JUNCTION — In just over 24 hours, crews managed to clean up a massive rockslide that closed state Route 7 between Steubenville and Mingo Junction, restoring the roadway’s flow of traffic.
Traffic began flowing again around 3 p.m. Friday, following a coordinated effort by the Ohio Department of Transportation and contractors to clear debris, restore the work zone and reopen the roadway.
The rockslide was caused by normal blasting operations for ODOT’s ongoing rockfall remediation project on the hillside overlooking Route 7. The project — which is slated for completion June 30 — regularly uses controlled blasts for excavation on weekdays at noon, and Thursday’s blast released a higher amount of debris than was anticipated. Spillage onto both lanes of Route 7 resulted in the roadway’s temporary closure.
Lauren Borell, public information officer for ODOT Eastern Ohio District 11, said crews from the project’s contractor Kokosing and sub-contractor Cast and Baker Corp. worked until 10 p.m. Thursday to get the roadway cleared and returned to work Friday after 5 a.m.
By Thursday night, the road had been cleared of debris and swept in preparation for new concrete barriers to be installed, Borell said. Those were in place by 10 a.m. and new container bins had arrived by 11:30 a.m. Once reflective markings had been placed on the barriers, Route 7 was ready for action.
Borell said she and crews were surprised to see that the rockslide had caused “no damage to the pavement whatsoever.”
When normal blasting operations resume is subject to an upcoming review meeting among all parties involved in the project, Borell said, adding that the meeting may also provide more information about what geologic factors played a role in the larger-than-expected rockslide.
Borell said the energy from the blast caused the wall of rock to push outward. A number of geological agents could have affected the blast, which was performed with the same type of charge as previous blasts. The charge for Thursday’s blast was planted 13 feet back from the hillside, on the wide shelf atop the hill’s lowest terrace overlooking Route 7, Borell said, adding that charges are placed at an angle facing toward the back side of the hill.
Even before the project started, officials “essentially X-rayed the hillside” to observe the rock’s make-up and possible cracks and waterways, Borell said. All of that information played into how the project was planned, especially as it relates to blasting.
“When they measure out and they do the core for the drilling, it’s very planned out ahead of time. They take a lot of steps to systematically plan out where they’re going to set those charges off.”
During the cleanup’s duration, law enforcement and ODOT officials redirected traffic to a detour route that utilized state Route 151 and U.S. Route 22.
Mingo Junction Police Chief Willie McKenzie III said Friday that “thousands of cars” had used the village as a bypass since Route 7’s closure. Additionally, he said, officers had answered calls and redirected confused individuals toward other routes, including over the Wellsburg-Brilliant Bridge for a detour along West Virginia Route 2.
The only issues in Mingo Junction itself came from semi-trailers attempting to cut through the village’s downtown and getting caught on the Commercial Street train bridge underpass on Thursday, McKenzie said. Officers assisted those semi-trailers with turning around, and other law enforcement officials would later prevent such vehicles from traveling that far north on Commercial Street in the first place.
“ODOT, Kokosing and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department have all done a great job with traffic control and keeping the drivers informed of what’s on and how long this could possibly take for the highway to be opened back up,” McKenzie said.
Regarding the rockslide itself, McKenzie said, “As long as there’s not a loss of life or no one is severely injured, we’re doing good, because you can’t replace a life.”
Austin Raymond, interim chief of the Mingo Junction Fire Department, said Route 7’s closure didn’t hinder the department’s EMS work, as personnel were able to adequately utilize detours and work around the issue.
Wellsburg Police Chief Michael Allman said the city had seen more semi-trailer traffic since Route 7’s closure. The situation went relatively smooth, with most congestion being limited to the city’s south end. As of 2 p.m. Friday, Allman said, no accidents had occurred on Route 2, but the department would continue to monitor the situation.