The Tennessee Department of Transportation announced today that the contractor (Dement Construction Company, LLC) will not meet the planned completion date of January 28, 2020 on the U.S. 27 improvement project in downtown Chattanooga. The contractor submitted a request for a time extension earlier this month, which TDOT is in the process of evaluating.

“We regret that this project will not be finished by the scheduled completion date,” said TDOT Region 2 Director Joe Deering. “More than a year ago, we began having intensive discussions with the contractor over the progress of work and our concerns with them meeting the scheduled completion date. We also engaged a third party to monitor the contractor’s progress on a weekly basis and actively assist in schedule recovery.”

TDOT’s contract includes damages in the amount of $3,200 per day for any portion of the work that remains incomplete beyond the January 28, 2020 completion date. Issues beyond the control of the contractor can be grounds for a time extension however. Once TDOT evaluates the requested time extension from the contractor, a determination of a time extension and any potential damages due from the contractor will be made.

The contractor estimates the project will be completed by the fall of 2020.