Once again it seems like there might be a solution to problems so the Oakland Avenue Viaduct in Sharon can be finished.

Engineers for the contractor, Carmen Paliotta Construction of South Park, Pa., are supposed to present a plan to county officials by the middle of next week, said Mark Miller, county bridge engineer.

The construction company hired McDonough, Bolyard & Peck, Fairfax, Va., as its new engineers, Miller said Tuesday.

The plan will be reviewed by county and PennDOT engineers. "Hopefully everything will be acceptable," Miller said.

The contract was extended until Feb. 24 but engineers said they don't expect to finish the project, which is more than a year past the original completion date, Miller said.

Despite the fact that the contractor's original engineer and a consensus opinion from county and PennDOT officials show that the error was a construction problem, the contractor has not accepted responsibility for the error, Miller said.

A fine of $650 a day is supposed to take effect after Feb. 24. Miller said the county and state have not paid any money to Paliotta, and the fines would be deducted from the amount owed to the company.

The county halted work on the viaduct in November 2001 after county bridge officials discovered steel pedestals that support the bridge are out of alignment by as much as 3 inches in some places.

The viaduct spans U.S. Route 62, also known as Connelly Boulevard in Sharon.

In November 2002 Paliotta submitted a proposal on ways it could correct the bridge's misalignment problem, and both the county and PennDOT accepted it. However, the plan didn't include when and how Paliotta planned to fix the bridge.

On Jan. 3 the county was presented a "concept proposal" to fix the viaduct. County Commissioner Cloyd E. "Gene" Brenneman said the proposal "wasn't a solution."

Twenty percent of the $3.1 million project will be paid by the county, while the state will pay the other 80 percent.