Work on a Rosehill Road sidewalk project will resume in the coming months after the project was left that was left incomplete a year ago by the previous contractor, city officials said.
At its June 24 meeting, the Fayetteville City Council approved a new $1.33 million contract with Morgan Trucking & General Construction Inc. for sidewalk construction and associated work along the eastern side of Rosehill Road.
The sidewalk is supposed to run 1.2 miles from the Food Lion shopping center on Rosehill Road at Country Club Drive and end at Shaw Mill Road, near the Rutledge Drive entrance to the Hillendale neighborhood.
On Tuesday, city representatives said the North Carolina Department of Transportation is reviewing the new contract, and pending NCDOT approval, work could start within the next 2-3 months and be complete by next year, based on “rough timelines.”
Former contractor leaves project incomplete
City records from June state that the work started in the fall of 2022, but “due to the contractor’s challenge in maintaining workforce and the discovery of additional design needs,” the city, in coordination with NCDOT, terminated the contract.
A $1.2 million contract had been awarded to Mohammad Mohammad Construction in June 2022 to install 6,520 feet of sidewalk, bus pads and drainage improvements.
A city news release in September 2023 stated that the work was scheduled to be complete by July 7, but a former city spokesman told The Fayetteville Observer in September that work was only about 30% complete by the deadline.
A woman who answered the telephone at Mohammad Construction in September said a subcontractor quit the project, and the company had been unable to find a replacement.
Since then, multiple attempts to reach Mohammad Construction with numbers and emails it has registered with the state and city have been unsuccessful.
Costs
Former city spokesman Devon Smith told The Fayetteville Observer that the city paid $300,000 to Mohammad Construction for the portion of the job it finished.
Observer records requests for copies of invoices and change orders for the project and other parks projects that Mohammad Construction abandoned are currently pending with the city.
According to the city’s records from June, NCDOT will reimburse the city for 80% of the project costs, up to $1.15 million, and the remaining funds will come from previously appropriated funds for the project.
Records state that the city received plan revisions for the project from a consultant, which NCDOT approved Feb. 26.
The city has also worked with an engineer and Fayetteville Public Works to address drainage needs in the area.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Where the sidewalk ends: Fayetteville to resume abandoned project
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