Minus contractor money penalties, Concord Road widening work will finish Nov. 30 at latest

It looks like holiday travelers will enjoy a completed Concord Road (state route 332) widening project in Farragut and Knox County — at a cost of $10,192,277 — unless prime contractor, Summers-Taylor Inc. pays a huge daily cash penalty.

“The current contract completion date is Nov. 30, after which the contractor may incur liquidated damages,” stated Mark Nagi, Tennessee Department of Transportation Community Relations officer for Region 1 (East Tennessee), in a press release.

As of early October, Summers-Taylor “has substantially completed bridge operations for Phase II construction. … The bridge deck was completed in September 2021 and the parapet wall was poured the week of Sept. 27,” Nagi further stated. “Currently, they are working on preparing to pour the sidewalk on the bridge while their grading subcontractor, Whaley Construction, is grading for bridge approaches,” he added. “Once roadway grading operations are complete, the contractor will lay the remainder of base stone and pave the northbound lanes and tie in the side roads throughout the corridor.

“The contractor is pouring the sidewalk in sections and will be installing the greenway in the coming weeks. Sod installation still remains for the eastern half of the project.”

Looking back, “Construction began in January 2019 and experienced a few utility conflicts within the first phase ... resulting in an extension to the original completion date,” Nagi stated. “... TDOT has not been made aware of any delays (due to) of COVID-19.”