By late May, the construction on the pilings for the new bridge piers had begun, with the steel bases constructed. However, work was slowed when the cases for the pilings began to have problems without specially-designed seals to keep them in place. The state and the contractor could not come to terms and instead, extra costs would be added anyway under "time and materials". The extra seals would add $50,000–$100,000 to the total cost of the project as contracted. The contractor was confident it would be finished near schedule, but no guarantee of on time. Construction did resume in mid-August.