Update from the FTA

Submission Update - FTA Contact Us Tool 
Fri, Feb 28, 2014 12:26 pm
From  Automated Email Notification <FTA> fta.sqlexecserv@dot.govhide details  
To  rkoenigsc 

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. This is an automatically generated email from FTA's Contact Us Tool. Contact information is located at the end of this message. 

Question: I am a retired civil engineer. My question concerns the Silver Spring Transit Center in Montgomery County, MD. 53% of the funding for the SSTC is being provided by FTA and 11% by MMTA. In March 2013 the County reported that it had contracted with local Washington, D.C. engineering firm KCE to evaluate extensive cracking in the yet-to-be-opened Silver Spring Transit Center. KCE's report attributes the extensive cracking to errors and omissions by the SSTC's builder/contractor Foulger Pratt, the engineer/designer Parsons Brinkerhoff and the concrete tester/inspector and special quality inspector Balter Co. KCE's report addresses other serious flaws: slabs more than an inch thinner than the 10 inches thick slabs called for in construction documents, exposed reinforcement, missing reinforcement and other construction, design and inspection and testing flaws. Since release of the KCE report last March, other flaws have been discovered: 250 beams that are under-designed, leaks, etc. The County intends to add a two inch thick latex concrete overlay to the SSTC in spring 2014 after freezing temperatures have passed. Missing from numerous media reports and public statements from Montgomery County officials is an announcement for a public meeting(s) where those paying for the SSTC are given the opportunity to ask County officials our questions and to make our comments for the record. Why? Why hasn’t FTA required public meetings to allow paying citizens to provide their input?

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I'm anxious to get FTA's answer to my question. Pretty soon it'll be Spring when Montgomery County intends to waste more federal money by adding a two inch latex concrete overlay to the SSTC--without public input from those who are paying for the SSTC--including you and me. The overlay won't fix the underlying problem which is extensive concrete cracking caused by a lack of (as in none) expansion joints. Standard construction practice and WMATA criteria (to which the SSTC was supposed to have been designed and constructed) require expansion joints spaced no more than 100 ft. apart. The 315 ft. by 580 ft. SSTC has none. At the very least the FTA should require Montgomery County to hold public hearings so that we, the paying public, can ask our questions and provide our comments on the public record.

I'll keep you posted.