A rock slide occurred along Ohio Route 7 near Chesapeake, along the Ohio River near Huntington, W.V. yesterday. The slide closed the highway completely in the westbound direction, and reduced traffic to one lane in the eastbound direction. While officials are working hard to get the highway back up to speed, it may take a while before that happens.

According to a report from a local news station, huge boulders, smaller rocks, and trees fell onto the highway just before 7 a.m. Monday, Feb. 26. No vehicles were hit by the rockslide, and no one was hurt, the report states.

There is currently no timetable on when officials will clear the boulders repair the road. However, the Ohio Department of Transportation says it could be as long as three weeks before they can fix the road.

Westbound travelers will be rerouted onto the 17th Street and 6th Street bridges and I-64 through West Virginia.

Rock Slide Will Hurt Ohio Traffic For Weeks to Come

Traffic in Ohio, West Virginia, and possibly even Virginia could suffer for a while after this rock slide. This is because Route 7, Ohio’s longest state route, is a major thoroughfare for this region. After all, it’s the only major highway along this stretch of the OH-WV border on the Ohio side.

Most of this part of Ohio is very rural, with only a few hundred people in each of the villages immediately across the border. These villages, like Chesapeake and Proctorville, will likely struggle to keep their usual flow of goods for a while. This spells bad news for the whole Huntington-Ashland Metropolitan Statistical Area and its nearly 300,000 people. Hopefully, the officials will work quickly to get this part of the highway back up and running quickly. Otherwise, it could spell economic trouble for these small towns.