U.S. 41 widening project through Bonita Springs will fail to meet another completion deadline.

U.S. 41 widening hits new roadblockContractor will miss Feb. 24 .
The U.S. 41 widening project through Bonita Springs will fail to meet another completion deadline.Astaldi, the contractor widening 41 from four to six lanes through most of Bonita, informed state transportation officials Friday that it won't make a Feb. 24 deadline, said Debbie Tower, a state Department of Transportation spokeswoman."We have emphasized the importance of opening the roadway to six lanes and we want the roadway open to six lanes as soon as possible," she said.
The Feb. 24 deadline was the latest given for Astaldi to finish widening 41 from Old 41 to the Imperial River bridge, other than the Imperial and Spring Creek bridges.Tower said FDOT still is looking into why this phase of the project will take longer.
There was no new timetable for the rest of the widening, excluding the bridges, she said.The northbound stretch from Highland Woods Boulevard to the Spring Creek bridge already has three lanes open.
Tower hopes another portion could open to three lanes before the entire section opens.The deadline for the whole project, which includes the bridges, is April 17. Astaldi faces $6,078 per day in penalties for finishing later than that.
It is critical that Astaldi finishes the job as soon as possible, Tower has said again and again.U.S. 41 is only one of two roads — Interstate 75 is the other — that connects Fort Myers and Naples. This stretch of U.S. 41 carries about 53,000 cars per day, according to the latest state traffic counts.
The project has been riddled with missed deadlines.Astaldi started the $18 million job in September 2003 and was scheduled to finish the work by Jan. 1, 2006. The state then announced just over a year ago that it gave Astaldi until Jan. 1, 2007, to finish the project, mainly because the state failed to acquire the proper permits and it delayed progress. Other reasons given were Hurricane Charley, the TECO People's Gas line leak, unexpected cap rock impeding drainage work and holiday time off.Drivers and Bonita Springs officials flooded city and state offices with angry e-mails and phone calls after learning of the delay. Bonita Mayor Jay Arend then wrote a letter to the state, urging them to expedite the project.
Jose Abreu, then the Secretary of Transportation, promised the mayor that the state would find a way to expedite the project. The state agreed to give Astaldi an additional $500,000 to finish widening the road, other than the bridges, to six lanes by Jan. 1, 2006. The contractor would finish the bridges by April 1.Including the $500,000, the state last summer offered up to $2.3 million in incentives for Astaldi to meet its new deadlines.
Hurricane Wilma led to another deadline extension. Astaldi's new deadline was April 17. Finishing by April 11 would net the company a $400,000 bonus. If Astaldi had finished the widening, other than the bridges, by the end of January, the company would have earned another $400,000.Astaldi said last month that it would not finish that portion until at least Feb. 24. And now that's not going to happen.Arend is skeptical about Astaldi even meeting the April 17 completion date.
"If I was a betting man, I'd bet on July 1," he said. .