I-485 Contractor Talks With Eyewitness News About Delays

Rising gas prices aren’t the only frustration for Charlotte drivers for the second straight summer. We’re facing more delays for the northwest stretch of Interstate 485.

After 4.5 years of waiting, there are signs the end may be in sight. Crews are hastily laying down concrete. Eyewitness News drove the entire 5.5 mile stretch between Oakdale Road and Interstate 77 near Huntersville and found pavement from one end to the other.

For the first time, Joe Raynor, the contractor working that job, is talking with Eyewitness News about the delay and when they expect to finally finish.

“Anytime you’re on a job a year longer than it’s supposed to be, it’s gonna be tough”, Raynor said.

Raynor is the project manager for Skanska Construction, the company building this leg of I-485.

In their contract with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, Skanska had promised to have the project finished by March 14, 2007.

Raynor told Eyewitness News one of the reasons they missed that deadline by more than a year is that the Department Of Transportation was late in buying land, then added work to the job. The state also asked them to move some utilities that weren’t part of the original plan.

“It’s our position that the delays on the job were beyond our control and weren’t our fault”, Raynor explained.

Work is moving fast now and if the weather holds, the contractor said they could be done by September.