After months of one-on-one negotiations, DelDOT is moving into group mediation in the hopes of recovering $43 million spent on emergency repairs for I-495.
The agency has been speaking with three companies who had access to the land underneath the interstate near the Christina River: Alma Properties, Port Contracting and Keogh Contracting.
They say 50,000 tons of dirt dumped by Keough near support pylons damaged them, severely misaligning the road above by several inches.
Now, Transportation Secretary Jennifer Cohan says she thinks they’re a step closer to finding a solution while avoiding a courtroom.
“It was just taking too long, so we were really encouraged that all parties had agreed to the mediated negotiation concept, which, again, is progress in our mind,” Cohan said.
Most of the repair money came from the federal government, but the state still put about $700,000 into the project. The incident closed I-495 for nearly three months, snarling traffic onto Wilmington and New Castle County streets.
It also called into question DelDOT’s attitude toward taking emergency calls from residents seriously, as it had received three reports more than a month before they eventually closed the damaged span.
“It is very clear to me that we did not take appropriate action based on those calls," said then DelDOT Secretary Shailen Bhatt. "We should’ve responded with the 911 calls. We did send people out, but we didn’t send the right people out and that will be a change that we have going forward.”
Policy changes were made immediately to help prevent a similar event.
Despite the willingness of all parties involved to meet, Cohan says she's not optimistic DelDOT can compel the companies to pay in full.
“That’s what the emergency relief federal dollars are for, for incidents like this. We want to recover as much as we can, but the odds of us getting $43 million are slim.”
Should talks break down, she says her agency will consider filing suit.
The first mediation session is expected by the end of March.