Crews continue to work at chipping away at the rock near the Ashland bridges until the end of August, a project that was started on June 15.

“About every other year we contract a company to do a periodic cleaning job,” Kathleen Fuller, Ohio Department of Transportation District 9 public information officer, said. “It’s just a bench cleaning where they knock down already loose rocks that have been identified.”

Fuller said DMG Inc. of Beaver was contracted for $149,379.

“A policeman is in the area in case any rock falls over the guard wall and/or if the area needs to be taken down to one lane,” Fuller said.

Unrelated, crews from BUDS Inc. from Nashport were contracted for a culvert pipe replacement and realignment project for $742,185 on a section of State Route 243.

“This was a 60-day closure that closed in early June,” Fuller said. “It should be reopened in early August.”