CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The completion of the final leg of the Interstate 485 loop has been pushed back time after time, and Channel 9 has learned that it could be months before it's finished.
Eyewitness News anchor Eric Philips found out when the state said it must be done and the penalty if it's not open to drivers by that time.
PAST ARTICLE: NCDOT delays completion of I-485 final leg due to cold temps
Initially, officials said the I-485 project would be finished last December, and then they said it would be the spring. Now, officials are saying it may be this summer, which is the "drop-dead" deadline.
If the project isn't completed by July 20, the contractor could be fined $20,000 a day for each day after that until it's finished.
Crews were seen working Thursday in Prosperity Church corridor on I-485 to get that section complete.
With a completion date that seems to be inching in the wrong direction, officials said there's a logical explanation.
"We have had some weather delays, obviously," said Jordan-Ashley Walker of the North Carolina Department of Transportation. "Everybody knows we've had a lot of rain this spring. We've also had perhaps some over-optimistic estimates on when things would be finished."
Art Cornielle, the owner of Due Amici Pizzeria in the nearby Prosperity Shopping Plaza, said he's made a slow comeback after road closures related to the highway construction nearly shut down his business. Now he's cautiously optimistic about what a completed I-485 will mean.
"I'm hopeful that when I-485 is finished, the traffic flow will improve and people can get into the center, get out of the center, without any major problem," Cornielle said.