State Road 54 Construction Behind Schedule

Pasco County officials say the construction company hired to perform work on State Road 54 at the Suncoast Parkway is taking too long.

"They are 58 percent out of time and they have 23 percent of the work complete," said Robert Shepherd, the county's construction engineering manager.

That's why Pasco is preparing a certified letter to send to Ajax Paving Industries requesting that the $3.6 million widening project be brought back on schedule.

"They're not manning the project," Shepherd said, adding that Ajax only has a few people on the site at any given time and pulls its crews as soon as there is "a sprinkle of rain."

To get the project back on track and avoid possible fines, Shepherd said Ajax will need to "start working Saturdays."

The county is requesting Ajax present a "recovery schedule" for the project.

Officials from Ajax were not available for comment.

The project calls for adding through lanes to make it six lanes in both directions, said Kristen Carson of the Florida Department of Transportation. Construction also calls for creating double left turn lanes in both directions to enhance access to the Suncoast.

"We are also adding bike lanes on both sides," Carson wrote in an e-mail.

While State Road 54 is not a county road, Shepherd said Pasco decided to fund the project to speed along a fix in an area it identified as a trouble spot.

"We're trying to get a good infrastructure," he said, adding that Pasco has funded other similar projects in the past, including work on State Road 54 in Wesley Chapel. "It's (State Road 54 at the Suncoast) a real bottleneck here in Pasco County."

Construction on the project originally began in the summer of 2010. The anticipated completion is summer 2011, Shepherd said. The letter to Ajax should go out later this week, he added.