The project to widen a portion of 10th Street in Williamsburg and raise it out of the flood plain is officially more than 29 days behind schedule but the roadway is projected to reopen again to traffic in three to four weeks, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
Les Dixon, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet said Tuesday afternoon that the original completion date on the project was Aug. 31, but that date got pushed back to Sept. 18 due to various change orders on the project.
As of Oct. 9, this past Friday, 29 days of liquidated damages have been charged to the contractor on the project at a rate of $2,400 per day.
"As of Oct. 9, $69,600 in liquidated damages have been charged," he noted.
Williamsburg city officials aren’t happy with the delay and voiced their frustrations during the monthly Williamsburg City Council meeting Monday.
Mayor Roddy Harrison said the roadway has been closed for so long that it is starting to seriously impact businesses that are located along it.
"Some of the businesses are seeing the hurt. They are starting to feel it now. All the businesses out there have been really nice and patient and understanding. Now it is starting to hit them in the pocketbook pretty hard," Harrison noted. "Everybody has said some things. It is known that we are all not happy with it."
Harrison said he doesn’t think state transportation cabinet officials are happy with the progress on the project either by K&K Contracting.
The project involves a portion of 10th Street below the Williamsburg Tourism and Convention Center to Second Street, which was closed in June so construction crews could widen portions of the road, raise it above the flood plain and replace a bridge along that portion of the roadway.
Harrison told the council Monday night that every time he has asked about the project completion date he gets the same answer, two weeks.
Councilman Richard Foley inquired during the meeting about why it has taken so long to get the project completed.
"It doesn’t make any sense to move that slowly," he noted.
Other council members also expressed frustration over the pace of the work.
Harrison said he has been told it is largely because of weather delays and that he has also received some other various explanations too.
Councilwoman Patty Faulkner added that some of the turns on the new road look like they are going to be tight, especially for transfer trucks.
Harrison said that if this proves to be the case, the city is within its rights to ask for the work to be corrected.
