Contractor Granted Time Extensions For Molino Road Bridge Completion

October 3, 2017

When Molino Road was closed for replacement of the bridge over Penasula Creek, just east of Sunshine Hill Road, the construction contact called for the project to be complete by September 25. But the contractor has been granted multiple time extensions by the Florida Department of Transportation, NorthEscambia.com has learned.

Contractor F&W Construction Company started the project on January 3 under a contract that gave the company  265 days for completion.

The Florida Department of Transportation has granted F&W 30 additional days due to weather and eight additional holiday days to complete the project. That would make the required completion date November 1.

But according to Tanya Branton, spokesperson for FDOT, there are two pending time extensions. One is for 14 days due to additional piling that was required and another nine days due to Hurricane Irma. If those requested extensions are granted, the anticipated final acceptance date will be November 24 for a total of 326 contract days.

The old wood piling supported bridge was constructed in 1958 had reached a level of deterioration to warrant replacement and was next on the list of the FDOT’s Five-Year Work Plan. The project is being funded and the construction work is being performed under contract with the Florida Department of Transportation. After completion of the structure, Escambia County will be responsible for the maintenance of the bridge.

To date, the bridge project is only $1,617 over original budget, with an adjusted current contract amount of $1,129,920.01.

Pictured: The current status of construction on the Molino Road bridge over Penasula Creek. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

22 Responses to “Contractor Granted Time Extensions For Molino Road Bridge Completion”

  1. vans on November 7th, 2017 3:52 pm

    @Chris – you do realize that 50mph is not that fast, right? Molino Road is a main road and dropping the speed limit to 35 mph would cause trouble for most people traveling that road. For me, it’s not about convenience so much as it is about that bridge hindering my method of transport between the pharmacy and my home. My medication has to be refrigerated or it can result in life-altering consequences. Having to take an additional 10 or 15 minutes can greatly affect me in a horrid fashion, so this bridge being out for this long is unacceptable. I agree, people fly down Molino Road. However, it’s a main road. If you don’t like it, live on a street that is not a main street.

  2. David Huie Green on October 7th, 2017 7:19 pm

    REGARDING:
    ” Let’s try to finishing one before starting another! ”

    That would never work. There are thousands of projects to do all over the state. If you never did but one at a time and each took at least a month to complete, thousands of months would go by before you got to the last one on the original list and many, many more would have sprung up in the mean time.

    Question: If one man could dig a hole six feet deep, six feet wide, six feet long in six hours, how long would it take six thousand men to dig it?
    Answer: It would never be done, they would get in each other’s way.

    David for parallel processing,

  3. Football Mom on October 4th, 2017 9:43 am

    FYI……….FDOT shut down ALL state road construction projects when Irma hit Florida. Just like the governor shut down all state offices and schools.

  4. Scott Poynter on October 4th, 2017 8:45 am

    The pictures tell the true story. You tell by the shadows of the equipment that it is pretty well up in the middle of the day….How many workers do you see in those pictures?

  5. Chris in Molino on October 4th, 2017 5:07 am

    @Micah—-Oh I take great joy in it. Great joy ! Its not what speed I think people should be driving. Its the speed limit. Which actually should be dropped. That speed was here when it was just us country folk before all the Yankees and southern urban hipster yuppies moved out here. When we didn’t need the “progress” (ha !) that they bring. You’ll probably say, “Don’t like it, move”. Well that’s actually what I plan to do. Once the new 4 lane comes in its gonna turn into Beulah here. Maybe you’ll even get you a Starbucks. Enjoy Molino.

  6. For what's it's worth on October 3rd, 2017 7:55 pm

    FDOT contracts are awarded based upon the fact that no weather days or holidays are included in the computation of contract time. Regardless of whether the contractor strarted on day 1 or day 30 of the contract , it doesn’t matter. The contractor is due time for unexpected weather delays and holidays per the contract. He is also due time for any additional work performed beyond the original scope of the contract. As for hurricane Irma, ALL FDOT projects in the entire State were put on hold and told to do no work until they were instructed to return back to the project, So again, even though it was only a little “breezy” here in Pensacola, the contractor was stopped from working and again is due his contract days back.

  7. NoMoreDetours on October 3rd, 2017 6:59 pm

    Poor Planning and Poorr Follow Through. Let’s try to finishing one before starting another! Thank goodness we have not had a hurricane in the Florida Panhandle this year! We would never get to higher ground with all of the detours in Escambia County.

  8. Micah on October 3rd, 2017 5:57 pm

    @Chris You take joy in this? There’s more reasons to wanting an unobstructed right-of-way than personal convenience. In between EMS and delivery drivers there’s more than enough reasons to see this project completed swiftly, disregarding residents and what speed you think they should be driving.

  9. Bonnie Exner on October 3rd, 2017 4:18 pm

    Of course,the project is not finished on time because there were months on end where there was no activity..and this was way before HURRICANE IRMA EVERY CAN INTO BEING..WAS TOLD THAT THE LOW BID GETS MULTIPLE JOBS BUT CAN’T SERVICE THEN IN A TIMELY MANNER..THEREFORE,A PENALTY FOR UNFINISHED PROJECTS,MIGHT CORRECT THIS SITUATION.

  10. William on October 3rd, 2017 4:07 pm

    <>>>EVERYONE NEEDS TO CALL OUR COUNTY COMMISSIONER..STEVEN BERRY DISTRICT 5 AND TELL HIM … NO EXTENSIONS.

    It’s a state FDOT project. They grant the extensions, not the county.

  11. Jodie on October 3rd, 2017 3:27 pm

    EVERYONE NEEDS TO CALL OUR COUNTY COMMISSIONER..STEVEN BERRY DISTRICT 5 AND TELL HIM … NO EXTENSIONS.

  12. Jodie on October 3rd, 2017 1:46 pm

    If F & W construction would have started the bridge on time instead of letting it sit for months without working on it, it would have been done by now. NO EXCUSE…BE DONE BY SEPT 27

  13. FDOT WOES on October 3rd, 2017 9:51 am

    GET IT DONE NO MORE EXCUSES

  14. Frankie Lewis on October 3rd, 2017 8:43 am

    if they would just work on it they would nave been done already.as the picture shows there is no work going on.

  15. Molino kid on October 3rd, 2017 8:18 am

    If they work more then once a week they’d get done fast

  16. Tom on October 3rd, 2017 8:11 am

    Accelerated bridge construction seems to be a pretty common practice and accounting for weather and other natural occurring things is pretty fast. However from what I can gather seems to be based on doing Quality work to overcome some of the time constraints. Does the lowest bidder always do the same quality work as the next lowest bidder and so on?

  17. Straight Shooter on October 3rd, 2017 7:34 am

    UNBELIEVABLE. Only our government and its contractors can run jobs like this.
    I still don’t see how they can rebuild I10 bridge in a year and cant replace this 100′ bridge in a year.

  18. No1youknown on October 3rd, 2017 6:23 am

    Still should not have taken that long

  19. Honest John on October 3rd, 2017 5:53 am

    I know we’ve had a lot of rain, but there is something called makeup days.l worked at a place that if we got behind they just scheduled us on seven twelves. Almost a year to replace that bridge is unacceptable. My guess is if you’re not inconvenienced it doesn’t matter.

  20. Chris in Molino on October 3rd, 2017 5:17 am

    Love it ! Sorry folks, the racetrack is still closed. I know people hate it. They just can’t stand to take the time to go around. Their like that everywhere on the road. Even at the grocery store. Rush rush rush. Bet you don’t rush to your casket like that.

  21. Molino Resident on October 3rd, 2017 5:04 am

    The only reason thy need extensions is because they never touched it for months. They closed the bridge, inconvenienced everyone around here and never touched it. In case FDOT hasn’t noticed, Hurricane Irma had practically no affect around here. They do not need nine extra days of closure for what was a couple breezy days. They’re just pulling that one out of their *ss because all they’ve done is sat on theirs for 9 months.

  22. Gary on October 3rd, 2017 2:55 am

    Was F&W construction company the low bidder? How dId Hurricane irma interfere with this construction?