An audit of state paving projects released this week found substantial delays in completing the work and inadequate record-keeping.
The report, by the State Auditor's Office, found that the Agency of Transportation generally finished simple paving projects on time.
But, the reports says when it came to more complex work, the department routinely went over their cost estimates and finished projects years behind schedule.
State Auditor Doug Hoffer says the delays mostly appear in the planning stages of a project.
"There were delays — substantial delays — in the case of half a dozen of the large programs, sometimes as much as three, four, five years," Hoffer said. "And there may be good reasons for that, but they weren't readily available in the documentation."
Hoffer says projects generally stay on track during the construction phase.
The Agency of Transportation, in a written response to the audit, didn't dispute the findings and said it planned to improve documentation of projects.
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