After all these years, it is currently the 17th largest highway construction project in Arkansas ranked by the dollar value of its contract.
It is the new White River bridge and approaches project at Newport.
Tanner Construction Company, Inc., of Ellisville, Miss., was awarded the contract on Oct. 30, 2013, to construct the bridge and approaches. The contract amount is $31.4 million dollars. In three months, it will be eight years since that contract was let, and the work to complete the project is ongoing, slowly but surely.
The District 5 construction engineer for the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT), Stan Glover, said the projected completion date for the project was approximately four years ago, noting there are many reasons the project has been slowed.
Some of those reasons were caused by the White River. High water is one example. Most others, he said, fall on the contractor. Other reasons could not be helped. For instance, there had to be adjustments made when the owner of the contracting company passed away shortly after work was started on the project.
According to Glover, the construction company is in “liquidated damages,” basically meaning the contractor is being assessed a penalty for not completing the project by a certain designated date called for in the contract and adjusted by circumstances beyond the control of the contracting company.
Glover said the liquidated damages assessed on this project are at $2,500 per working day, and the project has been in that mode for the better part of two years.
Glover did say that the concrete deck of the bridge is close to being completed, and once it is, the project should move a little faster, saying ARDOT is “cautiously optimistic” the project will be completed by December of this year.
Meanwhile, the “old blue bridge” (pictured below) is still carrying traffic in and out of Newport, as we look forward to the completion and opening of the new bridge across the White River at Newport.
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