EAST MOLINE, Illinois -- Construction is picking back up on 7th Street in East Moline this week. The street sees high traffic and was deteriorating, which qualified it for federal funding. However, the project is nearly a year in the making - when it was only supposed to take two months.
On Thursdays -- 7th Street in East Moline is usually lined with a little blue.
"It's garbage day every Thursday," said Dan Carter, and East Moline resident that has lived along the busy street for nearly 20 years.
But for the past 10 months, Dan has been seeing a lot more orange.
"You've got so many cones out here, so much other material out here, that it's hard to see the cars coming sometimes," said Dan. "It's just been a congestion nightmare."
And it's a bad dream he can't wake up from, as his car is now a daily reminder.
"I ended up backing out and I hear *thud* and all of a sudden I have that little cone wrapped up in my car," said Dan. "And I ended up tearing the bumper away from the car itself. It's going to be $100 bucks to get that fixed."
But Dan says he shouldn't be dealing with this anymore - and the city agrees. The city said work began in August of 2018 and should have been completed in October, just two months later.
"We've had sunny days like (today) in the past and no construction, nobody's here, nobody," said Dan. "We'll have three four days of sunshine, good weather, with no construction. Like where are these guys at?"
"Everyone is frustrated with regards to this project," said the city's Director of Engineering, Tim Kammler. He says the contractor -- Brandt Construction -- had issues getting the job done.
"The contractor had a subcontractor that I believe they had some issues in getting to show up to the job," said Kammler. "And that had a domino effect. But, at this point we're just trying to get it done. I’m, at this point, not focusing on blame I’m very much trying to get everyone together and get the work."
So for now, this sea of orange stays... for just a little while longer.
"Everyone will be happy when we have those orange barrels moved off the road and out of the way," said Tim Kammler.
"(Eventually) we'll have the street back, and the cones will be gone, the obstacle course will be done and we'll just deal with normal 7th Street traffic," Dan said.
The city said crews will continue resurfacing through the weekend. After that, they will nee to re-stripe the road markings and sweep the street before it opens back up to usual traffic.
The 7th Street project was budgeted for more than $1 million. Kammler said nearly 80% of the cost was covered by federal dollars.
"Our relationship (with Brandt Construction has been there, its been positive," said Kammler. "But this has strained our relationship significantly with this project."