Longview, TX — Some roadwork contractors keep to tight schedules — and some don’t.

Monthly construction updates from the Texas Department of Transportation show a wide variance in performance among companies that have won contracts for area road projects. And work on Texas 149 illustrates the disparities among contractors as much as any of the projects.

According to TxDOT, Knife River Corp.-South is more than 20 days beyond its 84-day work schedule for grade work, surfacing, pavement markings and other improvements on Texas 149 between the Union Pacific railroad and the Rusk County line.

The company began work on the $3.18 million project March 15 — nearly three months after TxDOT opened the project.

Meanwhile, Longview Bridge and Road was to begin its $3.37 million Texas 149 project to reconstruct the intersection at Eastman Road and Estes Parkway and to upgrade guide signs on Interstate 20 immediately after its July 15 start date.

On Aug. 19, the News-Journal emailed North Dakota-based Knife River Corp.-South Operations Vice President Tim Driver about delays and problems noticed on Loop 281 construction, where asphalt surfacing does not meet concrete curbs and gutters in most locations.

Driver has not responded to the newspaper’s queries.

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