Montgomery Co. Executive
Montgomery Co. Council
Federal Transit Administration
Maryland Transit Administration
In March 2013 Montgomery County made public a report, which it commissioned, that documents severe flaws in the nearly-completed Silver Spring Transit Center. Among the severe flaws are widespread cracking of concrete slabs, beams, girders and columns, slabs that are more than an inch thinner than what they’re supposed to be, exposed reinforcement, missing reinforcement, complete lack of expansion joints, under-designed beams, understrength and overstressed concrete, concrete curing failures, suspect concrete test reports, etc. The KCE report attributes the severe flaws to errors and omissions by the SSTC’s builder/contractor, engineer/designer and concrete inspector/tester and special quality inspector.
While it’s been more than a year since the SSTC’s numerous flaws were made public, questions regarding how and why a brand new structure could be so severely flawed remain unanswered. Even though I have more questions than those that follow, I respectfully request your answers to the following questions:
1. Why are you making repairs to the yet-to-be-opened SSTC? The public expects a brand new transit center; not a flawed transit center that, at the very least, even with repairs, will be expensive to operate and maintain.
2. Why haven’t public meetings been held to brief the public on what you’re doing, and why, and to answer the public’s questions and to obtain their comments on the public record?
3. Given that the SSTC’s widespread cracking is likely caused by its complete lack of expansion joints (documented in KCE’s report and reiterated by WMATA), why do you persist in pouring a two inch concrete overlay when the overlay will not address the underlying cause of the cracking problem (complete lack of expansion joints)?
4. Why wasn't the SSTC bid for construction, as has been standard practice for public works projects for decades?
5. Why weren’t decades-old, tried-and-true, competitive practices for selecting professional services firms used in selecting the SSTC’s engineer/designer and concrete inspector/tester/special quality inspector?
6. Were political contributions part of the selection process for the SSTC’s builder/contractor, engineer/designer and concrete inspector/tester/special quality inspector?
As you know, the Silver Spring Transit Center is funded by federal (53%), state (11%) and local (36%) public taxes and user fees.
Sincerely,
Ray Koenig
U.S. Citizen
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