CUSHING -- The state is threatening to fine a highway contractor $1,000 a day for delays in a project near Cushing that has been under construction for more than two years.

The project was originally supposed to have been finished within 10 months.

Delays in the work on Oklahoma 33 east of Cushing have angered area residents, who are concerned about accidents on the dangerous stretch of road, a state lawmaker said.

"My constituents are very, very, very frustrated," said Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing. "Their biggest concerns are the number of accidents we''ve had."

Records show the state awarded a $4 million contract for the project to CP Integrated Services Inc. of Oklahoma City in 2004.

Casey Shell, the division engineer in the Oklahoma Department of Transportation''s Division 4, which includes the construction zone, said the project was to regrade and resurface an eight-mile stretch of Oklahoma 33 between Cushing and Drumright.

The hilly highway had been the scene of several accidents in which motorists who pulled out from side roads could not see oncoming cars. The project''s basic intent was to lower the hills in that section, Shell said.

Records show that work began in June 2005 and was supposed to take 284 days. However, more than 830 days have elapsed and the project is still incomplete.

Shell said the delays are mainly due to utility problems but also due to the contractor.

"There have been a host of utility conflicts out there. . . . The secondary reason is the contractor really hasn''t produced like we feel he should have," he said.

The contract has been extended because of bad weather and the utility issues, but the state plans to start levying a $1,000-a-day fine if the project is not complete within the allotted time, he said.

"They (fines) are going to start any time, but we are still negotiating," he said.

The company''s vice president, David Parker, said it is not at fault for the delays.

"The job was suspended for almost a year while we relocated utilities," he said.

"It''s a ridiculous statement to say we''ve delayed the project. Did we do everything perfect out there? No."

Parker said a six-mile stretch of the highway from Cushing to Oklahoma 99 would be open this week. The remaining two miles on the east end will be finished by the end of the year, he said.

This is not the only project in which CP Integrated Services is behind schedule. It is also the contractor on a six-mile resurfacing of Oklahoma 99 near Stroud. That project was to have been finished in August.

Parker blamed a subcontractor who defaulted on the contract for that delay.

Denney said she had been talking with the Department of Transportation about the delays on Oklahoma 33. She said several accidents, some of them fatal, had happened on the section of highway, which is one lane in both directions without shoulders.

"We''re just trying to keep the pressure on to try to get the project finished," she said.

Parker said the highway is not dangerous for drivers who follow warning and traffic signs.

Shell said he did not know how many accidents have occurred in the construction zone but said one accident involved fatalities. The department believes that accident was weather-related, he said.

Judith A. Hill, 57, of Drumright died Feb. 3 from injuries she suffered in an accident on the highway.

Hill''s car crossed the median one mile east of Cushing and was broadsided by a minivan. A passenger in her car, Kecia Deann Stevens, 24, was also killed.

News accounts state that Hill''s car went out of control on the ice and crashed into an oncoming automobile.

City Manager Andy Katz said he also was concerned about the safety aspect of the unfinished work.

"It doesn''t take much to drift across a lane. The lanes are narrow and the road doesn''t have full shoulders," he said.