Contractor, NCDOT Battle Over I-485 Delay Fines

Drive along the brand new concrete ribbon that covers the latest stretch of Interstate 485 and it's hard to imagine that according to the state, the highway isn't finished yet.

“That's correct. As of right now, the entire project has not been accepted by the department,” said Rick Baucom, a North Carolina Department of Transportation engineer.

Baucom, who is overseeing the project, said the state is still waiting for the contractor, Skanska, to give them the plans for the Intelligent Transportation System, the elaborate network of cameras and sensors that line the five-mile stretch.

“And this was all part of the contract Skanska signed from the beginning? Why isn't it done?” asked reporter Mark Becker.

“You'd have to ask somebody from Skanska why it's not done yet or what took so long,” Baucom said.

According to Mark Hubbard, a Skanska spokesman, there were issues from the beginning.

“Not all of the land was acquired by the state, and the site was not ready when we showed up to begin work,” he said.

Hubbard said the state also added work to the project that caused many of the delays, causing the project to be more than two and a half years behind schedule.

“We're happy to work with them and make those changes and do differently what they asked us to, but you've got to give us the time to do that,” Hubbard said.

So Eyewitness News looked at the contract that Skanska signed and found that they agreed to start the project on Dec. 1, 2003, and have it finished in 1,200 days -- which was March 15, 2007.

Skanska also agreed to pay $10,000 a day in fines, called liquidated damages, for every day work continued after that. As of Friday, that's 967 days and counting.

At $10,000 a day, that should add up to $9.67 million in fines.

“How much of that money (is the state) going to collect?” Becker asked.

“That's hard to say right now,” Baucom said.

Just how much, if any, Skanska will pay in fines is a decision that'll be made at the Department of Transportation in Raleigh.

The state's chief engineer, Jon Nance, said, “Right now, we have retained $1.8 million in anticipated liquidated damages.”

He said that weather and changes to the contract have caused some real delays, but with the state trying to stretch every dollar in a tough economy, $1.8 million is far less than the $9.67 million the contract spells out.

“Are we leaving money out there on the road?” Becker asked.

“I don't think so,” Nance said, “If the economy's up or the economy's down, we have to be consistent with our application of those contracts.”

The battle over the fines for I-485 is still a long way from over. Skanska told the state they object to paying any late penalties and that the state should pay them extra for delays the state caused.