Trucks and drilling machines prepared for blasting operations on the hillside along State Route 7 near Rush Run Road Monday in Jefferson County, said officials with Ohio Department of Transportation.

Authorities set up a radius to stop traffic at Rayland and Rush Run Road exits on the northbound side and at Salt Run Road and Brilliant exits on the southbound side. They said this project is just scratching the surface for the work ahead.

"Right now, we have the big end dumps running on the hillside excavating the material, clearing the space off to allow the drills to get in there and drill the holes that we load for the shot that we'll set off this afternoon," said Adam Lytton, an ODOT project engineer.

Monday was the first day of blasting operations for the $22 million landslide repair project with contractor Beaver Excavating.

"This pretty much starts the actually phase for the landslide repair. Since we're blasting, we're going to pretty much take the loose rock and deteriorated rock, and we're going to haul it to our waste area," said Lytton. "That will leave us with a clean hard slope to prevent future rock falls."

They drilled holes into the ground for explosives, and they will do one controlled blast every day to scale back the hill. One challenge is making sure drivers know about the 10-minute delays.

"We're going to try and keep the time of the shots the same time every day, which also helps the traveling public out. (We're) just making sure we get the traffic stopped and controlled in a safe manner, so we don't have any wrecks," said Lytton.

He said they are working around the clock to get the road back to open, and the repair project won't wrap up until at least October.