Skip to main content

PA: Contractor defaults on Findlay Connecter contract....construction at a pause

Construction on the southern two and a half miles of the Findlay Connector, which will connect US 22 to PA 60 and the Pittsburgh Airport, has ground to a halt recently. The reason, the contractor, Smith and Johnson, was declared in default by the PA Turnpike commission as a result of Smith and Johnson's financial woes. See article in today's Post-Gazette.

Smith and Johnson was awarded the contract to build Section 54C which runs from US 22 near Bavington to just north of Bald Knob Road. The contract included interchanges at US 22 and Bald Knob Road. According to the Post-Gazette article: Section 54C is 65 percent complete while Sections 54A and 54B are 77 and 76 percent complete, respectively. Most of the troubles began in the fall. And although a bridge carrying Candor Road over US 22 was demolished in late January, Smith and Johnson was pulling out from the construction site. On January 18, the Turnpike Commission offered the company a chance to right the ship, but those efforts failed and the Turnpike declared them in default on February 8.

Problems in addition to falling behind schedule include shortpaying or not paying at all their subcontractors and suppliers.

This would be the third major project in two states that Smith and Johnson has pulled out of. In September of 2005, Smith and Johnson halted work on a six mile segment of a 50 mile highway called the O'Bannon Expressway in Southern Indiana. Citing unanticipated $3,000 fuel costs and began a tussle with Indiana over who should pay for the additional costs.

According to this WISH-TV news story from September 15, 2005:

Indiana Department of Transportation officials said the contractor is bound by its contract to complete the job for the price it bid and that the state has no policy for allowing fuel-cost escalations. "This is very unusual. This hasn't happened anywhere else (in the state) this year," said department spokeswoman Afua Anokwa.

The company also stopped work on a US 231 project in Rockport, Indiana at the same time. The company laid of 30 employees.

It appears that this was a ploy to get INDOT's attention. Bob Johnson, general superintendent for S &J, said in a September 16, 2005 issue of Land Line Online that it was standard procedure for other partners to absorb part of the cost.

“There is sort of a standard they’ve used in other states,” he said. “The contractor absorbs the first 20 percent. Then after that, the governing agency or the contracting agency usually helps out with the fuel cost.”

The state ordered them back to work and they obliged.

However, according to today's article...it appears the company has gone out of business.

"As far as we know, they closed down the highway construction side of their business," Mr. Agnello said. "Basically, they're out of business."
As this develops, more will be reported here.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

US Route 101 in Benbow, Garberville and Redway

The communities of Benbow, Garberville and Redway can all be found along US Route 101 within southern Humboldt County.  The former surface alignment of US Route 101 in Garberville and Redway once crossed the Garberville Bluffs along what is now Redwood Drive via a corridor constructed as part of the Redwood Highway during the 1910s.  US Route 101 through Benbow, Garberville and Redway was modernized by 1935.  US Route 101 would eventually be upgraded to freeway standards in Benbow, Garberville and Redway by extension of the Redwood Freeway during 1966-68.  As the cover photo the original grade of US Route 101 and the Redwood Highway can be seen at the Garberville Bluffs during 1934.  US Route 101 can be seen in the communities of Benbow, Garberville and Redway on the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Humboldt County .   The history of US Route 101 in Benbow, Garberville and Redway Benbow, Garberville and Redway lie on the banks of the South Fork Eel River of southern Humboldt County.  D

Highways in and around Old Sacramento; US 40, US 99W, CA 16, CA 24, CA 70, CA 99, CA 275, and more

This past weekend I was visiting the City of Sacramento for a wedding.  That being the case I decided to head out on a morning run through Old Sacramento, Jibboom Street Bridge, I Street Bridge, Tower Bridge, and path of US Route 40/US Route 99W towards the California State Capitol.  My goal was to retrace the paths of the various highways that once traversed the Old Sacramento area. This blog is part of the larger Gribblenation US Route 99 Page.  For more information pertaining to the other various segments of US Route 99 and it's three-digit child routes check out the link the below. Gribblenation US Route 99 Page The old highway alignments of Sacramento The City of Sacramento lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and American River in Sacramento Valley.  Sacramento Valley was discovered by Spanish Explorer Gabriel Moraga in 1808.  Moraga referred to the fertile Sacramento Valley akin to a "Blessed Sacrament."  By 1839 John Sutter Sr. settled in Mexican held

Old Stage Road in Tulare County and Kern County

Old Stage Road is an approximately 30-mile rural highway comprised of Tulare County Mountain Road 1, Kern County Mountain Road 447 and Tulare County Mountain Road 109.  Old Stage originates at Jack Ranch Road near Posey and ends at the outskirts of Porterville at Deer Creek.  Old Stage Road notably is comprised of two 19th Century stage routes.  From White Mountain Road northwest to Fountain Springs, Old Stage Road overlays Thomas Baker's 1860s era stage road to Linn Valley (now Glennville) and the Kern River Gold Rush Claims.  From Fountain Springs to Deer Creek, Old Stage Road is comprised of the 1853 Stockton-Los Angeles Road. Featured as the blog cover is the northward descent on Old Stage Road along Arrastre Creek to the town site of White River.  What became White River was settled along a spur of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road as "Dog Town" when gold was discovered nearby.  By 1856 the community had been renamed Tailholt.  A stage road from Tailholt to Linn Valley w