Story by Chris Lawrence

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The southern coalfields weren’t the only area impacted by the heavy rainfall of Feb. 15-16.

The new wall is designed to hold back the hillside. (Photo/DOH)

The rain in Kanawha County that weekend loosened up the material on the hillside above the new Jefferson Road widening project in South Charleston. As a result, the hillside began to give way and fall onto what will eventually be the west bound lanes below.

“It is part of the main road there and once they came across that it made sense to fix it,” DOH spokesman Brent Walker told MetroNews.

The contractor on the project has been stabilizing the hillside for about three weeks.

“We’re repairing that with a piling wall. We’re about halfway through on that repair,” Walker said.

Walker said there is no anticipation the additional work will delay completion of the overall widening project which is nearing completion

“We still have a little bit more work to do and expected that to be completed by mid-Spring. It’s not going to affect the overall project, we’re still expecting the Jefferson Road project to be completed by this summer,” Walker said.

The state is spending nearly $47 million to reconfigure and widen Jefferson Road from Corridor G to MacCorkle Avenue near the I-64 interchange. It’s a main connection from the interstate to the Southridge shopping area and points south. An $11 million project including a new bridge and access road from Jefferson Road to the backside of the Trace Fork shopping area has already been completed and is open to traffic.