NC Highway 3 widening project nearing four years with no end in sight

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — The new year is approaching this weekend and so is a projected deadline for the completion of the long awaited Highway 3 project in Kannapolis.

The project end date has been pushed back a number of times and it appears it will once again be pushed back.

Crews have been working on the Highway 3 project between Kannapolis Parkway and Loop Road since 2020. The project was supposed to be finished in four months, but it’s been closer to four years.

In 2021, Channel 9 traffic anchor Mark Taylor asked the North Carolina Department of Transpiration what was taking so long.

“Other delays come into play too like weather (cut to) issues with utilities that weren’t identified and you have to figure out what to do with those,” Jen Thompson of NCDOT said.

The completion date was pushed back in 2022. This past summer we talked to NCDOT again and they told us the contractor planned for the project to be finished by the end of 2023, citing labor shortages and utility conflicts adding to the delays.

The NCDOT construction progress report says the project is 53.13% complete.

>> In the video at the top of the page, Channel 9′s Hannah Goetz explains the issues with the project.

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