Rockslide Keeps Route 7 Closed

Friday – March 18: Taking advantage of the beautiful weather we had yesterday we took a hike over the closed section of State Route 7 to see the rockslide just over the Jefferson County line. It is just a little over a half mile from the Route 213 intersection near the Roadside Park. The rock slide happened this past Wednesday evening right before dark. The Wellsville firefighters were called out around 7 PM to block off the road until ODOT crews arrived. Now both lanes of Route 7 is closed from Aten Avenue at Route 39 to Route 213. Fortunately there were no injuries reported.

ODOT officials have been quoted in the newspapers as saying they can't even begin to start clean up of the slide until the rock quits falling. We were there around 3 PM yesterday and could hear and see rock falling. It is expected the crown left at the top of the hill is going to come down too. If it doesn't come down on its own they are going to bring it down. One man told us that the top of that hill use to be at least 12' higher than what is pictured here.

One of the ODOT crew on hand told us yesterday they are bringing experts in from the State of New York to take care of that. They had already started moving equipment on site. Another ODOT member told us they are bringing experts in from all over the country. Their first task is to clear the trees off the top and then they are going to start cutting back the hillside using a method called slushing. Stating he's never seen it done before he told us he was unable to explain how they do it. In this morning's papers it was reported that “Janrod Inc,, a rock remediation contractor from New York was hired to begin scaling the hillside and remove loose rock face”. That same article stated the section of highway will be at least another week before they get it reopened.

In the meantime crews were busy cleaning up on either side of the slide and hauling that away. It's kind of strange seeing that highway without any traffic except the ODOT trucks.

The official ODOT detour takes traffic west out Route 39 to somewhere just east of Indianapolis before turning toward Steubenville. The detour includes traveling on four different state routes. Personally, if we were traveling to Steubenville and points beyond we would take WV State Route 2 from Chester on the other side of the river. You can get back to Route 7 crossing the bridge at Weirton. It's a straight shot from Chester to Weirton or vice versa.

Now here's food for thought... a friend mentioned this morning that the rock slide happened the same day as Youngstown's first ever earthquake. Hmmm...

ole nib