NATCHEZ — A landslide in northern Wilkinson County has closed a mile of the northbound lane of U.S. 61 indefinitely.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation advised of the lane closure Tuesday afternoon after rerouting northbound traffic onto the southbound lane in a head-to-head format, changing the four-lane highway into a two-lane configuration.

The slide was approximately three miles south of the Adams County border.

MDOT District Engineer Albert White said stability issues deep in the soil caused the slide.

“It’s been something we’ve been watching for a while and we’ve tried different fixes to stabilize it, however these fixes were only short term fixes,” White said. “What we’re doing now is looking at the long-term fix.”

No injuries or damage to vehicles were reported following the slide, and MDOT crews worked Tuesday afternoon to build temporary change lanes between the northbound and southbound lanes to allow for the traffic redirection.

“We felt it was best to go ahead and move traffic,” White said.

MDOT is assessing what needs to be done to make the necessary repairs to reopen the northbound lanes, and White said he could not give an anticipated completion date for the project.

“It’s going to be an extended period of time,” he said.