GREENBUSH – A large section of the southbound lane on U.S. Route 2 was barricaded Friday morning by the Maine Department of Transportation after officials discovered a 1-inch-wide crack that had formed overnight.

On Thursday, the DOT noticed that a 200-foot-long section of embankment between Route 2 and the Penobscot River had slid away from the road toward the water’s edge. The lane was closed to all traffic at 11:30 a.m. Friday, shortly after officials discovered the crack.

“The crack is about 95 feet long,” Gerry Worster, the assistant superintendent at the site, said Friday afternoon. “We’ve marked the crack every five feet so we can measure it twice a day and see if there’s any movement.”

Traffic signals have been placed at both ends of the barricade, to help vehicles traveling in both directions alternate between using the single lane.

About three years ago, DOT conducted a project at the same site. Metal beams were driven into the soil and were reinforced with thick wooden planks to help stabilize the ground, Michael Burns, assistant director of DOT’s Bureau of Maintenance and Operations, said.

“We were planning on getting more planking in place there in the near future,” Burns said. “But things happened quicker than we expected.”

DOT will continue to monitor the site throughout the weekend and plans to secure a contract with a construction company by next week to rebuild the bank using large stones. Burns estimates the project will cost more than $50,000.

“We are going to work from the bottom up,” he said. “We’ll need a crane on site to put the stone in. We don’t want to jeopardize anyone.”

If the crack worsens, the DOT will shut down the road completely, and ask motorists to use the Cardville and Greenfield roads as an alternative route. The route would tack on an additional mile and a half for commuters

A resident who lives next to the site expressed concern about the status of the road several times Friday, according to Worster.

Eugene and Bernice Carroll, owners of the Old Country Store, which is about two miles from the site, said they hadn’t heard too many people complaining about the barricade on Friday, but worried that business would suffer if the road was blocked off completely.

“It’d be an inconvenience for most everybody,” Eugene Carroll said. “Everyone is going to have to drive extra miles, and the price of gas isn’t cheap.”