SOUTH POINT — A South Webster company is the apparent low bidder in an upcoming project to buttress the hillside along U.S. 52 outside the village of South Point.

The project was prompted by a massive boulder crashing onto U.S. 52 near Crabtree Hollow Road in early spring of 2015.

There were two bids with Allard Excavation of South Webster coming in at $3.4 million for a project the Ohio Department of Transportation District 9 had estimated at $6.8 million.

The other bid was from Trucco Construction Co. in Delaware at $4.05 million.

The contract is expected to be awarded next week or the week after.

“The state’s estimate came in less than that, a little more than $5.1 million,” Kathleen Fuller, public information officer for District 9, said. “Nobody knows the state estimate until bid letting. Whatever I give as an estimate, it is what our district is working with.”

Construction is expected to start in spring and last through summer.

“We are going to buttress under the larger boulder and do some clearing of rock,” Fuller said. “We will take down some rocks and do some shoring up.”

Traffic will be affected on the westbound lane where there will be periodic closures for 10 to 15 minute intervals. ODOT is hoping it can give advanced notice of the closures, Fuller said.