http://www.gazette.net/article/20131119/NEWS/131119340/1124/montgomery-council-members-want-more-information-on-transit-center&template=gazette
250 BEAMS!!!
How many beams DON'T need to be strengthened?!?
Montgomery County and its consultants and WMATA and its consultant would have us believe that the SSTC is safe? I would NEVER certify to the public that the SSTC is safe based on what I've read and the photographs that I've seen in KCE's and WMATA's consultant's report (that can be found and downloaded on Montgomery County's website). And that was BEFORE I learned from this article that 250 beams need to be strengthened.
"Councilman Marc Elrich (D-At Large) of Takoma Park passed on a request from a constituent that the center be temporarily opened up for supervised tours so residents can see the work being done for themselves. (Montgomery County General Services Director David) Dise said he had gotten the same request and has asked the county attorney to look into it, but predicted that conducting such tours in what is still a construction site could raise “serious liability and legal issues.”
On the one hand, "the SSTC is safe"; but, on the other hand, residents touring it raises "serious liability and legal issues"?
HUH?!? REALLY?!?
You expect the public to believe that the SSTC is safe?!?
"'...for unique projects such as the transit center, the county will consult experts with experience on similar projects earlier in the process than happened with the Silver Spring facility,' he (Dise) said."
Good idea!!! not rocket science, but a GOOD idea!
DUH!!!
Why didn't Montgomery County do that BEFORE the SSTC was designed and built?
Councilman Phil Andrews: "The Silver Spring Transit Center is the 'biggest construction debacle in the county’s history.'" Hands down, Councilman Andrews; hands down.
This well-informed comment to a Washington Post article on the subject (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/silver-spring-transit-center-will-require-additional-repairs-county-says/2013/11/19/5fe73b1a-514b-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c_allComments.html) merits re-posting here:
ReplyDelete"Pashaspopwrote:
11/21/2013 11:10 AM EST
How much worse can this possibly get. Now we are told that 250 beams and girders need strengthening. TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY underdesigned beams and girders!
Well with last week's fix, if you are going to add 2 inches of Latex Modified Concrete to the deck to cover, but not fix, the deck cracks, you have just added 25 psf to the structure dead load and decreased the available live load capacity (for the buses) by a similar amount, without strengthening anything. Better had strengthen the entire structural framing given the likely defects found everywhere else.
And the MoCo excuse that we really didn't know about this because we were focused on the deck fix. Pathetic. Read the KCE report, it's all there. KCE Principal Allyn Killsheimer is hardly known as a 'shrinking violet'. He would have explained the problem fully in no uncertain terms. Couldn't get the Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) design calculations until late October, six months after asking for them. What! It takes one day to photocopy them, one day to put in 3-ring binders, and one day to ship with a nice cover letter. MoCo have PB under contract and can order them up at once. Why were they not submitted with the design documents for the record/permitting anyway?
As a Federal/MD/MoCo taxpayer I am appalled at the attitudes and behaviors alround. And we taxpayers are still not off the hook, despite the MoCo Council comments to the contrary. Who is paying/going to pay for the specialist legal advice needed now. Both contractor Foulger Pratt and designer PB intend to fight claims with MD/MoCo. Will any settlement cover our full costs and will it be conducted in public view. Unlikely, so we will continue paying and likely stuck with a future bill.
High time for the Feds to step in. In fact where are they since half the money is theirs.
Congress goes on about stopping 'waste, fraud and abuse', well here is a great example 200 yards from DC. Congressman Van Hollen?"