BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT MITCHELL - The contracting company responsible for the $22 million S-curve reconstruction project on Interstate 75 at Dixie Highway will not remove any more pavement until it has conducted its own tests for concrete defects.
Charlie Myers, construction engineer for the state highway department, said he's still not sure whether the wait for results will push the completion date beyond the late 1999 target date. Test results gathered by Hebron-based W.L. Harper Co. will determine the final answer. But if the company reaches the same conclusion as the state - that concrete already laid is defective - delays could push the project into the next century.
"We're trying to build something to last 30 to 35 years. From what we've seen, we don't think it'll do that," Mr. Myers said.
Contractors began the reconstruction project last spring. The goal is to reconstruct the cloverleaf interchange at Dixie Highway into a diamond shape by September or October 1999.
But in September highway inspectors noticed blisters in the new concrete on the southbound I-75 exit ramp.
They noticed the defects during the grinding process, which is done to achieve the proper level of smoothness.
The ramp's concrete had to be ripped up, and at least 14,000 additional square yards had to be removed.
So far, only the ramp work has been redone. It was completed last weekend - two months after the target date.
Meanwhile, Mr. Myers said, 38 percent of the concrete already has been laid - and all of it will remain suspect until the contracting company issues its own test results.
Mr. Myers does not know when that'll happen. Michael Shayeson, president of W.L. Harper Co., could not be reached Thursday for comment.
