The following article appeared in the March 16, 2026, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.
The lawsuit over the Hawthorne Lane bridge is taking almost as long as construction of the Hawthorne Lane bridge
The bridge over Hawthorne Lane in Elizabeth took more than four years and led to a lawsuit between the contractor and the city of Charlotte. (Photo: WFAE)
A Texas-based construction company’s lawsuit against the city of Charlotte is entering its fourth year, as it seeks to get paid for its work on the long-delayed Hawthorne Lane bridge project in Elizabeth.
At issue in the suit is who is to blame for the seemingly interminable four-and-a-half years it took to build the bridge, which is near one endpoint of the Charlotte Area Transit System’s Gold Line streetcar. The suit was filed in February 2023 and alleges the contractor is owed at least $115M, representing the unpaid work.
Johnson Bros. Corp. of Grapevine, Texas, which won the job with a $90M bid in 2016, says the city delayed the project by changing traffic control plans, limiting construction work hours, adding requirements on storm drains and delaying approvals, and that there were also unforeseen hurdles such as conflicts with utility lines and “Covid-19, social justice protests and weather.”
The city, though, blames the contractor for the delays. CATS had said during the bridge project that Johnson Brothers was slow in budgeting, scheduling and construction.
Court documents say the contractor was given the go-ahead to start work in February 2017 and that the project was completed in August 2021, though the bridge opened to traffic in late 2020. It connects Elizabeth to Plaza Midwood and goes over Independence Boulevard.
At the time, the bridge construction was blamed for a slowdown at nearby businesses, and it was the butt of jokes on social media, with some people pointing out that the Hawthorne Lane bridge project took longer to complete than the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
Court documents show that the two sides worked with a mediator last month, but that they reached an “impasse.” The court extended time for discovery, in which both sides conduct depositions and request documents, until July 1. That suggests a trial could take place later this year.
Court documents say that “the parties have collectively gathered, reviewed and produced millions of pages of documents and several terabytes of electronic data,” in addition to producing “hundreds of pages of expert reports” and retaining eight experts between the two sides.
The bridge represents one of Charlotte’s most prominent infrastructure headaches. And like the bridge itself, the legal battle is taking years to play out. —Tony Mecia