Military Cutoff construction company to face fine

WILMINGTON — It’s a project that’s taken more than three years to finish. The Department of Transportation says the Military Cutoff widening project will be finished November 13.

Final paving is expected to begin this week.

The Wilmington road was supposed to be finished back in May. We wanted to know if the contractor would be penalized for missing the deadline. The DOT says yes.

“We have provisions in the contract that if the contractor overruns his time, which in this case was May 15, 2007, that he’s charged 3000 per day, for every day he’s over that date.”

The contractor will be given a grace period of about five months past May 15 because of extra work the DOT asked crews to complete after the original contract was drafted.

But at this rate Barnhill Construction is still looking at a fine of about $60,000 for failing to complete the work on time.