Editor’s note: This is one of a series of stories to be published on naplesnews.com and in the Daily News through the end of the year, looking back at people and issues that had been in the news during the past year, but not recently.

For years, driving U.S. 41 in Bonita Springs was horrendous.

The widening of the highway — particularly between Bonita Beach Road north to Old 41 — slowed traffic on a daily basis, harmed businesses, made driving treacherous and gave the city a reputation.

Making matters worse was that construction dragged on much longer than expected. The project shut down in its first year because of a lack of environmental permits to work over the Imperial River. That delayed completion to Jan. 1, 2006.

Even after that date came and went, the construction kept going. The road opened up to six lanes in September 2006, but temporary lane closures continued. The contractor, Astaldi Construction Co., didn’t wrap up until this summer.

Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Transportation was counting a $6,078-per-day fine for the work not being done on time, a fine that still hasn’t been assessed against the company.

“It could be six months, a year, until we decide on it,” FDOT spokeswoman Debbie Tower said. “We are still working on it.”

The fine totalled more than $2.2 million, but Astaldi was never required to cut a check every day. After Astaldi asks for its final payment, FDOT is supposed to subtract the total penalty before cutting the check.

The state is still figuring out how much Astaldi deserves. That can take three to six months or even longer.

“I don’t see how a contractor can delay a project like that and hold businesses hostage for years and years and not have to pay any restitution to them,” Bonita Mayor Jay Arend said.

The businesses along U.S. 41 took the brunt of the delay as potential customers avoided the mess.

“Our entranceway would change on a daily basis, and even our vendors couldn’t get in because they didn’t know where to turn,” said Mark McDowell, director of operations for the company that runs Duval Street Seafood Co. on U.S. 41. “A lot of our older patrons wouldn’t negotiate the road.”

Duval Street lost about 25 percent of its business the first year of the construction, and it kept dropping from there. The restaurant eventually closed and only re-opened Monday.

“It drug on for so long that people got in the habit of avoiding that area of 41,” McDowell said. “We really took a hit from all that construction.”

The original contract with Astaldi for the U.S. 41 widening was near $19 million. The contractor collected $2.5 million out of a possible $5 million in bonuses for meeting certain targets after the shutdown.