Sparty has arrived on campus, but he doesn't have a place to go.

Four days away from the original completion deadline, the Kalamazoo Street, Red Cedar Road and Chestnut Road intersection is still dug up, unpaved and without the bronze Sparty statue, which arrived Tuesday.

The roads, originally expected to accommodate traffic by Friday, will now open by Aug. 19 after unearthed complications slowed construction.

Abandoned utilities that were found while working on the steam tunnel service have caused the most problems, said Dennis Hansen, a site construction superintendent for Campus Park & Planning.

"Anytime you go underground with utilities, it gets complicated," he said.

Records of utilities put underground within the last 45 years are more accurate than those of utilities implemented in the 1920s and 1930s, Hansen said.

Abandoned and hidden in the ground, construction workers were forced to deal with the utilities, said Alan Gurski, project manager for Kares Construction Co.

"We've worked around them, through them, over them, beside them - you name it," he said.

Hansen said the parts to complete the steam-tunnel work aren't available and could not be preordered. Workers needed to dig up the utilities to estimate what parts they needed and have them specially built.

When dealing with steam, they want to make sure the parts are made to withstand pressure to avoid dangerous complications, Hansen said.

"The key is safety," he said. "We don't want to rush the suppliers."

Both Campus Park & Planning and Kares Construction Co. officials said the roadway and sidewalks will be open by Aug. 19 before the fall semester starts.

"It will be open," Hansen said. "We're just doing the best we can under the circumstances."

The time of completion for construction is unknown at this time.

Brian Snyder, a construction worker for Kares Construction Co., said there is still a lot to do.

"We got to put all the terrace in and the bricking, color concrete and after that start on the asphalt," he said, adding that landscaping and cleanup will take time as well.

Snyder said many of his co-workers have been working overtime to try to make the deadline.

"We have to do whatever it takes," he said. "It'll be a rush job."

Hansen said the overtime costs were probably factored into the original bid and aren't costing the university extra.

The bronze Sparty arrived on campus Tuesday to be stored until it is placed in the plaza, Hansen said. He said the statue wasn't expected to arrive until Thursday.

The Spartan Statue, also known as "Sparty," was removed from the middle of the intersection in May and placed in the new Spartan Stadium addition. An exact bronze replica of the original statue was made to replace the fragile terra cotta and will be placed in a specially constructed plaza at the north end of the Demonstration Field.

Dan Steward, the construction site manager with Kares Construction Co., said the statue is expected to be placed by the end of this week.

"It kind of depends on the MSU people," he said. "They want to be a part of the statue being placed - make sure it's the right way."

The new Sparty is currently crated up and wrapped in green cellophane with only its feet exposed. Construction workers used its feet to create a template to ensure it will fit the granite base under construction in the plaza north of Demonstration Hall.

"The contractor wants to be careful and mechanical," Hansen said. "It has to be exact or Sparty won't fit."

The dedication ceremony for the bronze statue will be held in October.