ATLANTA -- Drivers are getting frustrated with a road project that was supposed to wrap up last June, but is still far from complete.
Work continues at the intersection of Freedom Parkway and Boulevard, where drivers should be enjoying added turn lanes.
“It's been a crawl at best,” says Adam Paul of the project. “Lots of delays. It's been very inconsistent. It seems there's a failure in communication on all ends.”
We first visited with Adam Paul last summer. It was right around the time work to add lanes and update traffic lights should have been coming to an end.
Nine months later, we met with Adam Paul again. The intersection didn't look much different.
“A lot of people are wondering what's the holdup,” said Paul. “They've been wondering that for quite a time.”
According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, there have been several holdups. They include the unexpected discovery of an underground communications box. That stalled the project for four months.
There was a streetlight in the way, but no one asked the city of Atlanta to remove it until after 11Alive’s Commuter Dude started asking questions. That was this past January.
Now, it's the earth beneath the spot where a new right lane is supposed to go. It failed a soil compaction test. The contractor is dealing with that now.
A GDOT spokesperson tells us the contractor has been hit with financial penalties, and has now been given until May to finish.
“At what point do you move on to another contractor? Commuter Dude Jerry Carnes asked GDOT’s Annalysce Baker.
“That's an absolute worst case scenario,” says Baker. “That would extend the project, and we want to avoid that at all costs.”
