The FACTS say: "Tear it down"

We've heard PLENTY of OPINIONS regarding the Silver Spring Transit Center. From David Dise, Montgomery County's Director of the Department of General Services: "It absolutely will be safe." From the Montgomery County Council and Executive. From Montgomery County's paid consultants. From WMATA and its paid consultant. But, let's look at the facts:

 

1. The SSTC is cracked throughout. When concrete fails, it cracks.

 

 

2. Some slabs in the SSTC are more than one inch thinner than what they're supposed to be (10 inches thick).

 

 

3. Reinforcement is exposed. Some reinforcement was found to be missing entirely.

 

4. The 580 ft. x 315 ft. SSTC lacks expansion joints. Standard engineering practice (and WMATA construction standards, to which the SSTC was supposed to have been designed) requires expansion joints to be placed no farther apart than every 100 feet. (The lack of expansion joints is likely contributing to the cracking, which can be expected to continue without expansion joints.)

 

5. 250 beams need to be strengthened because they can't carry design loads within allowable design stress limits.

 

6. Some concrete in the SSTC is understrength and overstressed. Water was added on-site and standard cold weather curing procedures were not followed. Concrete test reports show the same test results for many samples suggesting that concrete testing did not conform to standard industry practice.

7. Initial loads applied to the post-tensioning tendons exceeded specified limits (another factor that likely contributed to the cracking).

 

8. The SSTC leaks.

 

9. We don't know why the engineer/designer failed to include expansion joints in the SSTC's design. We don't know why 250 beams were under-designed. We don't know why the builder/contractor built slabs that are more than an inch less thick than what they're supposed to be. We don't know why reinforcement is exposed, and in some cases missing entirely. We don't know why water was added to the concrete on site and why standard cold weather curing procedures were not followed. We don't know why the concrete was overstressed during the initial post-tensioning. We don't know why concrete inspection and testing failed to follow industry standards and contract requirements. We don't know why the SSTC's special quality inspector, Montgomery County's onsite construction management team, and other Montgomery County and WMATA personnel who inspected the project periodically failed to address these deficiencies until construction was almost complete. We don't know why Montgomery County selected the SSTC's builder/contractor, engineer/designer, concrete inspector/tester and special quality inspector. We don't know if political contributions were part of the selection process. We don't know why the SSTC wasn't bid for construction as has been standard practice for public works projects for decades.

 

Look at the facts. Take the opinions for what they're worth, especially the opinions of those involved in the project before the many deficiencies with the SSTC became public. Take a look at who is paying those who are providing opinions. Are they impartial?

 

Look at the FACTS. The SSTC should be torn down. You can't retrofit expansion joints into a finished concrete building. It's "set in concrete". You can't see missing reinforcement. You can't see if what's supposed to be a no. 7 bar (7/8 inch diameter) is actually a no. 5 bar (5/8 inch diameter). It's "set in concrete". You can't tell what other latent defects there may be. They're "set in concrete".

 

At the very least, further construction on the SSTC should be halted until it's PROVEN (by INDEPENDENT experts not paid by Montgomery County or anyone else involved in the project heretofore) that the SSTC is safe.