Photo: Harrison Daily Times
The new Arkansas Welcome Center near Bear Creek Springs north of Harrison has been under construction for almost two years, and it could be done this summer. But, it will apparently be at a price to the contractor.
The Harrison Daily Times reports the next estimated completion date of the new Arkansas Welcome Center is August 15th, almost a year behind schedule. But, officials say that date is subject to change.
The former welcome center, which opened in the late 1980s, was razed in late October 2016. A mobile home and bathrooms were moved on-site until the new building is completed.
Dayco Construction of Damascus was the low bidder at $2.2 million, about 60 percent of the highest bid of $3.8 million from Flynco, Inc. of Little Rock.
Arkansas Department of Transportation officials say the work order was issued for the project March 11th, 2016. The original fixed completion date in the contract was September 29th, 2017
ArDOT District 9 Resident Engineer Steve Lawrence said Dayco experienced some issues relating to the materials certification requirements of the contract.
Lawrence says he’s not aware this contractor has built an ArDOT facility previous to this project and there has been a learning curve to understand those procedures.
ArDOT documents indicate the purpose of the project was to not only construct the new welcome center building and a maintenance building, but to address some minor drainage issues, lighting, picnic shelters, landscaping, concrete walks, curb and gutter and other miscellaneous items.
The contract also called for liquidated damages of $400 a day charged to the contractor for every calendar day past the contracted fixed completion date. As of July 15th, Dayco had been charged about $80,000 in damages.
Lawrence explained some days are excluded from the contracted completion date in the case of change order. For instance, sewage must be pumped to the nearest city sewer line on Airport Road. When evaluating the pumps, ArDOT decided to replace them with heavier ones while they were already being replaced. That changed the terms of the contract, and some days were added to the original completion date.
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