With just 100 days until the Opening Ceremonies in Atlanta,
many large construction projects are still behind schedule,
according to the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. Streets scheduled to be
fixed by March are still under construction; Centennial Olympic
Park, originally scheduled to open in May, will now open six days
before the Games; and workers are still busy on Olympic Stadium,
which was supposed to be opened last fall. As time runs out and
weather improves, organizers may resort to double and triple
shifts to wrap up jobs. Projects that fall too far behind will
simply be "shelved." The official line is that everything will
"look picture-perfect" by July 19, but throughout the city, "the
sense of urgency rises with each passing day" (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 4/10). The N.Y. TIMES' Kevin Sack writes, "The
city is so pockmarked with construction sites that contractors
find themselves begging for backhoes. ... And yet, local
officials seem downright serene." ACOG CFO Patrick Glisson:
"We're tight as hell, but I'm reasonably confident we'll make it"
(N.Y. TIMES, 4/10). ACOG President Billy Payne said they are
"cramming ... 50 years of improvements in public works" into a
couple of years. He adds critics "don't see that in a couple of
months there's going to be an end to this, and something truly
wonderful will be in its place" (Ben Brown, USA TODAY, 4/10).
