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The Utah Department of Transportation has filed a $29.4 million lawsuit against the contractor that built its problematic Timpanogos Highway between Lehi and Alpine.

That rebuilt six-mile section of State Road 92 was finished 10 months late in 2012 amid quality complaints, and after UDOT charged $4.5 million in late fees to the contractor, Flatiron/Harper Joint Venture.

Flatiron was part of a consortium that created huge controversy in 2010 after disclosure that it had been quietly paid $13 million by UDOT after it protested that it was cheated out of a $1.1 billion contract to rebuild Interstate 15 in Utah County.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in 4th District Court, UDOT said the SR92 project "was beset with many design and construction quality" issues resulting from "Flatiron's staffing and management deficiencies, as well as poor workmanship. … Flatiron had to redesign or tear out and repair many parts of the project."

The lawsuit also asserted that "a large number of key retaining walls had to be built and rebuilt multiple times. Flatiron attempted many times to seal bridges to prevent their leaking. Flatiron's work resulted in over 500 cracked or defective roadway panels."

The partnership between Flatiron and Harper fell apart in November 2010 and Harper abandoned the project, according to the suit. UDOT said Flatiron contended Harper's exit would not impact the project, but the agency said problems skyrocketed afterward.

UDOT and Flatiron have been trying to use a dispute-resolution process to work out issues, but UDOT asserted that Flatiron has "abused" that process by repeatedly altering claims and by seeking "massive amounts of documents outside of the scope of the proper disputes."

Besides seeking $29.4 million in damages, UDOT also seeks a ruling that it owes no money to the contractor.

Flatiron did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

In 2010, UDOT quietly made a $13 million settlement with a consortium called Flatiron/Skanska/Zachry after it alleged it had been cheated out of the $1.1 billion contract for I-15 by the way UDOT tweaked scoring of the bids.

That contract went instead to Provo River Constructors. Principals in that group had contributed $82,500 to Gov. Gary Herbert's election campaign in the months before and after the contract was awarded.

A state auditor's report later found no wrongdoing or political pressure by UDOT and Herbert over the bid, but said it could not determine whether the bid process and settlement payment were fair because of a lack of documentation.