A $363,000 emergency slide repair project started this week on the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway (Wyo. Highway 296), northwest of Cody.

Installation of a 10-foot soil nail wall is underway 18.5 miles west of the highway’s junction with Wyo. Highway 120, according to Wyoming Department of Transportation maintenance engineer Lyle Lamb of Basin.

“This soil nailing project is designed to be a permanent fix and it is intended to keep the roadway as safe as possible into the future,” Lamb said in a news release Tuesday.

The slide repairs are occurring at milepost 27.5 on the Chief Joseph highway, Lamb said.

The slide repair work is expected to take several weeks to complete, and motorists should expect minor traffic delays.

WYDOT maintenance workers are assisting with traffic control and other efforts on the project.

The contractor is Geological Stabilization, Inc., (GSI) of Grand Junction, Colorado. GSI was dispatched to the 2018 Chief Joseph Slide, and also worked on the Wind River Canyon to perform soil nailing in several places.

Following its work on the slide repairs, GSI is scheduled to participate in permanent repairs of the Pat O’Hara Creek bridge less than a mile from the intersection of Wyo. Highway 296 and Wyo. Highway 120.

The Pat O’Hara Creek bridge repairs were necessary after erosion from high-water runoff threatened the bridge this spring. WYDOT workers responded to the bridge this spring and conducted emergency repairs to allow the bridge to remain open without any weight limits.