NC DOT officials and project contractor Skanska are each pointing at the other in regards to who is to blame for the lengthy delays in the completion of I-485.
Skanksa says that DOT failed to acquire significant portions of the land needed for the construction. While DOT admits that they were not exactly timely in regards to full site preparation, they counter that the issues faced should not have been nearly as severe as Skanska has claimed. A recent Charlotte Observer article reports that the contractor has claimed delays totaling 311 days because of DOT's failure in acquiring land and relocating major utilities. DOT admits to responsibility to less than half of that delay.
Virginia Beach-based Skanska has also taken issue with the timeliness of notification of changes which are needed to accommodate additional development in the area (notably, a Target store at Harris Blvd and a car dealership at Old Statesville Rd). The firm has requested more than $8.5 million in compensation for the delays which DOT has refused. It's worthy of note that the company's contract allows DOT to levy a $10,000 per day fine against the contractor for each day the project is late.
The current stretch of I-485 (from NC Hwy 16 to an interchange with Hwy 115 a nd I-77) is tentatively scheduled to open in November or December, but Skanska feels that, weather permitting, the opening could be as early as September. The final segment of the I-485 loop, east of I-77 to I-85, isn't scheduled to begin until 2015.
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