The contractor, meanwhile, is being assessed $8,600 daily for
passing the deadline for finishing the project.
HOLLISTER
A Council of San Benito Governments official estimated the bypass project’s latest estimate for completion is the end of February, while the contractor now faces $8,600 daily fines for recently passing the deadline for finishing.
Mary Dinkuhn, the agency’s transportation planning manager, told the Free Lance the Highway 25 bypass project’s estimate for completion is late February “barring any problems with weather.”
She confirmed the contractor’s scheduled time frame is up and that Graniterock-Pavex is being assessed the $8,600 in what she called “liquidated damages.”
“At the end of the day, at the end of the project, we’ll have to figure out which liquidated damages COG is able to hold on to,” she said.
Dinkuhn noted how such assessments, or fines, help pay for additional costs an agency such as COG now faces with the added project time, such as extended administrative costs, employing a construction management firm and having inspectors on site.
She also pointed out how such projects are required to retain 5 percent of the total cost as a financial security, until project completion, in the event contractors face such fines.
In late October, COG officials first reported that the contractor had discovered cracks along the route’s shoulders that had to be fixed and ultimately pushed back the finishing date.
