BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — The state Division of Highways said a contractor has deemed the hillside above a section of Interstate 77 in Mercer County stable allowing one lane to be reopened to traffic Tuesday afternoon.
The DOH does not anticipate having to continue to use the northbound detour between Bluefield and Princeton. It expects the I-77 slow lane near the three-mile marker to be opened by the weekend, just in time for the Christmas holiday travel period.
The unstable hillside was blasted last Friday while both north and southbound traffic was kept out of the area. The contractor then had to use other methods to remove large rocks from the area.