COVINGTON, Ga. — Officials now foresee a mid- to late September completion of an east Newton bridge after GDOT began assessing a daily charge on the builder for missing a deadline for completion.

The long-awaited County Hwy. 213 replacement bridge over West Bear Creek likely will be completed by late September after the contractor missed a July 20 deadline in a contract to complete the structure, a GDOT spokesman said.

The state agency began assessing a $1,000 per calendar day charge on prime contractor Williams Contracting Company LLC for missing a July 20 deadline for completion, said GDOT spokesman Kyle Collins.

Collins said the major part of the bridge structure is complete but still awaits installation of new roadway approaches, guardrails and planting of grass, among other contract items, Collins said.

The $1.27 million project is 2.5 miles west of Mansfield near Dobbs Road. Workers closed the old, outdated bridge in March and began detouring County Hwy. 213 traffic to the north along Dixie and Elks Club roads.

The project is part of the GDOT Low Impact Bridge Program, which is designed to speed up work using prefabricated bridge components.

Projects in the Low Impact program must meet such criteria as no geometry or grade changes, low environmental impacts, and all detours off-site and approved by local entities, a GDOT news release stated.

Efforts to reach Williams Contracting for comment proved unsuccessful.