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The opening of the Rodanthe Bridge remains delayed.

The paint truck broke down again.

On Monday, July 11, 2022, paint contractor T.M.I. showed up with the paint truck. Around 4 p.m., preparations were underway to run a test stripe. The paint was warmed up and ready for the test. Then, the truck would not go into reverse or drive. A minor leak was also noticed in the paint unit.

On Tuesday morning, a mechanic from Seto’s came to look at the truck, which was towed to Seto’s. The truck with an electrical problem was ultimately towed to Raleigh for repair.

Under the contract with prime contractor and NCDOT, T.M.I. is provided an opportunity to cure the problem, which is painting not up to standards.

Prime contractor Flatiron is reportedly investigating legal avenues.

Only eight or nine road painting contractors are pre-qualified with NCDOT. But, reported NCDOT district resident engineer Pablo Hernandez, only half of those contractors have equipment to do long-line painting required for painting the lines on the bridge.

T.M.I has removed the sub-standard paint on the bridge, making it ready to paint.

The painting delay has facilitated the work of attaching electric cable to the bridge.

On Thursday, July 14, 2022, an on-site meeting was underway at the southern end of the not-yet-open bridge. The meeting was in preparation to begin pulling electric cable. The project will start at the riser, which is already in place, and progress to the first of four splice boxes. Then, the installers will move to the north end to put in that segment. Installing the last two segments will require one-lane traffic closures.

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