More than 21/2 years after a massive landslide buried part of Ohio River Boulevard in Kilbuck, a Wal-Mart contractor is poised to start repairs to fully reopen the highway.

Cleveland Construction Inc. expects to begin work June 8 to repair the northbound right lane, which has been closed since the Sept. 19, 2006, landslide.

For four weeks, Ohio River Boulevard/Route 65 traffic will be restricted to one lane in each direction near the slide site. After that, a second southbound lane will reopen during the remaining four weeks of work.

When the project is completed, four lanes of traffic will be restored, said Dan Cessna, district executive for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Wal-Mart is paying for the project.

Although Wal-Mart continues to work with the state Department of Environmental Protection on stabilizing the adjoining hillside, "we feel comfortable that the highway lanes can be reopened safely," Mr. Cessna said.

An estimated 300,000 to 500,000 cubic yards of earth -- enough to fill at least 10,000 dump trucks -- buried the highway and nearby Norfolk Southern Railway tracks in 2006.

The landslide occurred during site preparations for River Pointe Plaza, a retail development that was to include a Wal-Mart Super Center. The slide closed Ohio River Boulevard for nearly two weeks.

Wal-Mart canceled plans for the shopping plaza in September 2007 and since has been grading, landscaping and planting trees on the 75-acre site, formerly occupied by Dixmont State Hospital. It is expected to remain vacant for the foreseeable future.

The northbound right lane of Ohio River Boulevard has not reopened and must be rebuilt before traffic can use it, Mr. Cessna said yesterday.

He said PennDOT has been urging Wal-Mart to make the repairs.

"It took them a little longer than anticipated" to hire a contractor, Mr. Cessna said. "They have been putting a good-faith effort forward, in our perspective, to get the road repaired."

PennDOT was prepared, if Wal-Mart didn't act, to draw on a $1.4 million letter of credit posted by a former developer of the shopping complex and do the work itself. But the department prefers to have Wal-Mart manage and complete the project, he said.

Mr. Cessna said the closed lane has posed little more than minor inconvenience for motorists.

Wal-Mart is suing several developers, engineers and contractors who were associated with the retail project. In the case, pending before Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr., Wal-Mart has asserted that it suffered more than $50 million in damages as a result of the defendants' negligence, fraud and breach of contract.

News of the highway repair work was welcomed by Kilbuck Borough manager Harry Dilmore.

"I know it's probably going to be a month of hell for people going through there. But it's just got to be reopened to four lanes," he said.

Relief for motorists will be somewhat short-lived. PennDOT later this summer will begin a yearlong major reconstruction of Route 65 at Interstate 79 that will cause traffic restrictions on about two miles of road and on ramps at the interchange.