Posted on 11/28/2019 8:29:31 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Twin Ports Interchange reconstruction project through Lincoln Park soared $100 million over budget this month, forcing planners to defer indefinitely portions of the work scheduled for 2020-23.
The $343 million project is scheduled to begin in May. Minnesota Department of Transportation figures released Monday at a regular public meeting about the project showed a $443 million price tag.
"This is what happens with every big project," Duane Hill, district engineer based in Duluth, said Monday. "You have to manage it as you go along. We thought we did a good job initially coming up with a budget for this project and what we’ve learned is that it's really hard."
Project funding is firm at $343 million, and there is currently no way to expect additional funding, sources said.
From here on out, the project will set aside work planned farther up both U.S. Highway 53 and Interstate 535 to focus solely on the Interstate 35 corridor, Pat Huston told more than 100 people gathered at Clyde Iron Works to hear about the project.
Huston, the major projects and assistant district engineer locally for MnDOT, called the project "way more complex" than anticipated, and said engineers are still learning about things such as underground lines and utilities that need to be moved, adverse soil conditions throughout the project footprint and scores of other concerns. For instance, Michigan Street through Lincoln Park will now need to be rebuilt for all of the wear and tear and outright damage it will endure throughout construction, Huston said.
"We didn't know what we didn't know," Huston said of the original engineering and budgeting processes. "There's still a lot we don't know."
(Excerpt) Read more at duluthnewstribune.com ...
Those moves would definitely destroy the old state of business dealings between state and private sector dealings for sure.
LOL! :)
Texas, of course. LOL :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.