GULF — The N.C. Dept. of Transportation announced this week that the contractor hired to replace the Carbonton bridge crossing the Deep River on N.C. Hwy. 42 near the intersection of Chatham, Lee and Moore counties was declared “in default” and NCDOT has “requested the bonding company complete the project.”
The bridge has been closed since January 2018 to facilitate the construction of a replacement due to the previous bridge, which was built in 1961, suffering a deterioration of the sub structure and the caps that hold the girders in place.
The replacement had been scheduled for completion in November 2018, but delays have pushed that date out several times. The company contracted to do the construction, Extreme Concrete Cutting of Gaffney, S.C., had its original construction completion date extended by six months due to the hurricanes last year as did every NCDOT project, according to Garry Phillips, Lee County’s NCDOT Resident Engineer. The extension changed the contracted finish date to May 15. Even so, the project is only 50 percent complete, according to officials.
“We are working with the bonding company as they secure a contractor to complete the contract,” said Aaron Moody, NCDOT’s Communications Offier for the Triad. “Each of NCDOT’s contracts requires the contractor to have a bonding company in case a situation like this develops.”
As a contractor has not yet been hired by the bonding company, Moody said, there is no definitive timeline for completion. He emphasized that it is the bonding company’s responsibility to “fulfill all terms of the original contract” and therefore the project will not cost any additional funds.
Reporter Casey Mann can be reached at CaseyMann@Chathamnr.com.