Builder: I-4 Ultimate eight months behind
Highway project also $100 million over its budget
Interstate 4’s overhaul will run eight months beyond a scheduled finish in early 2021 and $100 million over a $2.3 billion budget, according to a recent claim by the builder.
Neither the builder, I-4 Mobility Partners, nor the state Department of Transportation previously had publicly disclosed a potential change in schedule or budget.
Details first emerged from Moody’s Investors Service, with reports on I-4 Mobility’s financial footing.
The state Department of Transportation issued a statement on Thursday, emphasizing that the I-4 Mobility Partners claim remains undetermined.
“While the claim is being reviewed, construction activities are continuing and the contractor is being held to the terms of the contract with the original completion dates set forth in the agreement,” department spokesman Steve Olson said.
“No time extensions or financial considerations have been granted to the contractor from FDOT,” Olson said.
Moody’s reported on June 28 that it had posted a negative outlook for three loans totaling $1.4 billion taken on by I-4 Mobility Partners.
Called I-4 Ultimate, the massive remake of the 60-year-old freeway began in 2015.
The project will add toll lanes along a 21-mile section of I-4 from north of State Road 434 in Seminole, through Orlando and
to west of Florida’s Turnpike in Orange County.
I-4 Ultimate is a “publicprivate partnership,” in which the builder and the state are co-investors in a road expected to generate revenue through tolls.
While motorists may face an added eight months of construction on I-4, a road now widely detested by many drivers, what the $100 million claim may mean for taxpayers was not immediately clear.
Neither the Florida Department of Transportation nor I-4 Mobility Partners responded to requests for an interview.
I-4 Mobility Partners issued a statement, saying “a project of this size and complexity will nearly always encounter unexpected challenges.”
An ongoing challenge for the financial viability of the project, according to Moody’s, is “21 miles of reconstruction in a congested urban corridor, where construction activities will be constrained by the need to maintain existing traffic.”
A Moody’s “Credit Opinion” report of June 29 noted that the builder and transportation department are likely to hold discussions in coming months.
“The contractors have already had extensive workshops and schedule meetings to try to re-sequence work and find efficiencies in the schedule,” the report further states, adding that some strategies may reduce work by as many as 100 days.
According to further detail disclosed by Moody’s, schedule slippage had been noted through the last half of last year.
Potential fluctuated from as few as 130 days to as many as 188 days by the year’s end.
By March, the potential delay had increased to 245 days, or nearly eight months.
On June 11, I-4 Mobility Partners filed its claim for $100 million in additional compensation and for a 245-day time extension, according to Moody’s.
The state’s transportation department has 120 days to review the claim.
The Moody’s report stated “The delay is primarily due to a catastrophic drilled shaft failure” in the downtown Orlando portion of the interstate.
Two such failures occurred in attempts to construct foundations, according to Moody’s.
The builder blamed “complex geological conditions” and design for the failures.
Also cited by Moody’s were flooding and lane closures in March and May that prompted the state’s transportation department to assess nearly enough “noncompliance points” to declare I-4 Mobility Partners in default in the project.
Moody’s stated that the total of three worker fatalities so far in the I-4 Ultimate project is “atypical.”
Moody’s said that considering the claim for more money and time, and the high number of noncompliance points, “the importance of a cooperative working relationship…is deemed critical at this time.”
The I-4 Mobility Partners statement said its “team will continue to work together with our partners at the Florida Department of Transportation on solutions to address items that arise, with the aim of successfully delivering a state-of-the-art highway.”