[Updated Oct. 30 to correct attribution of quotes]

Concerns have been mounting in the last four months that the MoPac Improvement Project could be falling behind schedule, according to staff and contractors overseeing the project.

Project managers Paul Petrich from infrastructure firm HNTB and Joe Schroeder from contractor CH2M Hill told the board of directors for the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority the project is about three weeks behind schedule. However, Wes Burford, the Mobility Authority's director of engineering, said schedules are fluid, and the number of days the project is behind could easily change.

The Mobility Authority is overseeing construction of the MoPac project, which will add one tolled lane in each direction from Parmer Lane to Cesar Chavez Street. The transportation agency's board members expressed concern about just now learning about the delays as they were recently informed the project was still on schedule.

"We need to deliver this project on time even if along the way we have to have drivers experience a little more pain," board member David Armbrust said.

Board Chairman Ray Wilkerson agreed the news is a surprise.

"I would like to see our consultants, construction and staff, to have a detailed meeting to find out what are we doing and what to convey to the community," he said at the board's Oct. 29 meeting. "We've been very transparent and have been telling the community we're right on time."

The contractors will come back to the board Nov. 19 with an update on the project schedule. The project is still slated to be substantially complete in fall 2015.

"By the end of November we will have a schedule update that will fully recognize the clear picture," Schroeder said.

He said they lost about 60 days because of weather-related issues; however, contractors built in weather delays into the timeline of the project.

"When we encountered this three weeks slippage at the end of September, we made a commitment to the RMA that we are going to do very focused assessment of the project schedule," he said. "That's very challenging and takes time and effort. We're in the midst of that."

Other delays came from a subcontractor falling behind on the design of the project, Schroeder said. The contractors addressed some of those delays early and are now playing catch-up. He said recent delays are related to boring work—horizontal directional drilling—at the southern end of the project.

"We're bringing in additional boring machines to accommodate that," he said. "To overcome [design delays], we modified our approach to construction on the project and spread our resources out to help with that."

Petrich said the contractors have been using several methods to try to catch up, such as extending the hours of lane closures, closing some ramps and cross streets and even allowing lane closures during significant events such as the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

"We have looked at the traffic data for when it makes sense to allow closures," he said. "It's turned out to be quite successful. [Crews] were able to get work in there without impacting traffic."

For more information visit www.mopacexpress.com.