The Alabama Department of Transportation declared the original contractor, L&T Construction, in default of the contract in January because of delays on the project.
The dismissal is being contested and an ALDOT spokesman has said it may end up in court.
Officials from L&T had said the delays were caused by design issues. ALDOT maintains the delays were caused by the contractor.
At the time of the default, according to ALDOT records, L&T had used 120 percent of its contracted time and had completed 83 percent of the work.
The project had also been cited by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for stormwater erosion violations in July 2011.
ALDOT signed a takeover agreement with Mississippi-based W.G. Yates Construction this March and expected work to resume on or around April 5.
David Walker, vice president of Yates, said on April 5 the company had started preparatory work to take over the project. He added that the company was taking bids from subcontractors and hadn’t started substantial work yet.
Walker could not be reached for comment Monday.
DeJarvis Leonard, engineer for ALDOT’s 4th Division, said Yates had not provided a start date for the project.
“The bonding company is still in charge,” Leonard said. “That is something that is on my radar this week to try to get a better confirmation from the bonding company as to when work will actually start.”
This is the last leg of the parkway, which will eventually connect Interstate 20 to Alabama 21 and U.S. 431 in north Anniston. The connection has been long anticipated and long delayed. The project was originally approved by Congress in 1998. Work was begun in 2001 and the first leg, from I-20 to Greenbrier Dear Road, was completed in 2003. ALDOT then waited for funding to complete the project. That funding was allocated in 2009 by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly known as the federal stimulus bill. L&T started work in October 2009.
According to the original schedule, grading work was estimated to be finished by May 2011. In August 2010, that was pushed back to December 2011 and then in February 2011, it was pushed to May 2012. With a June 2012 finish date, Leonard said ALDOT had believed the paving could have been finished and the road opened by the end of 2013. Now, after the default, the finish date will probably be sometime in 2014.
“That’s all hinged on the contractor moving forward and finishing the grading project,” Leonard said.
The paving is an 18-month project and has yet to be put out for bid, Leonard said. If the paving work can begin by this time next year, the parkway could open in late 2014, he said.
Staff Writer Laura Camper: 256-235-3545. On Twitter @LCamper_Star.
