Disappointing news from today's N&O on the road front. First, the cost of repairing brand-new but improperly constructed I-40 through Durham County is now 15% over NCDOT's estimates from just a few months ago. The worse news is that as of now, this repair is still going to count against the funding of future projects in NCDOT's Division Five (which includes Wake and Durham County.)
Local Board of Transportation rep Ken Spaulding has been lobbying hard that this expense should be borne centrally by NCDOT or spread across the state, since the repair work is necessary only because, to be blunt, NCDOT screwed up by not documenting in writing the specific paving instructions for the project.
From a Durham perspective, this nearly $25 million hit is most likely to impact the timing of the East End Connector, which was already (under the likely Alternative #3 selection) $35 million over its $100 million budget.
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