Lawsuit over construction delays on California freeway

Actions taken by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are being blamed for many of the delays in the projects to improve the 405 Freeway. According to Kiewit Corporation, the contracting company hired to complete the improvements, Metro is responsible for the projects going massively over budget. Kiewit filed the $400,000 construction law claim with the reported goal of encouraging Metro to meet with an independent dispute review board. Kiewit says that meetings with the mediator are a stipulation of their original contract.

One of the claims Kiewit has made in the lawsuit concerns the delays in the construction of the Mulholland Drive bridge and other structures. Before construction began on the projects, Kiewit says that Metro neglected to work out certain details with utility companies. This failure allegedly resulted in multiple postponements and redesigns of the projects before building could begin.

In 2009, Metro hired Kiewit to make improvements along the 405 Freeway that have since gone millions of dollars over budget and are over a year behind schedule. A spokesman for Kiewit has stated that the 405 Freeway project is expected to be finished by early fall. To date, the project has caused several widely-publicized traffic standstills.

Delays and redesigns on large-scale projects can lead to millions of dollars in losses. If a contracting company believes it has suffered losses when a project is being delayed through no fault of its own, it will likely want to try to recover damages from the entity that is responsible for the delays. An attorney who is experienced in construction law and contracts may be able to determine what the best course of action may be.

Source: NBC Los Angeles, “405 Freeway Delays Spark Lawsuit From Contractor“, Kevin Truong, July 02, 2014