The Silver Spring Transit Center and the professor

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/as-repairs-continue-still-no-opening-date-for-long-delayed-silver-spring-transit-center/2014/08/16/09eeaeac-22f4-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html#

My reply to "OldestMan"'s comment to the article:

"...protecting the public interest..."?  Uh, that would be no one. 

Such a deal! Not only do county (36%), state (11%) and federal (53%) taxpayers get a “repaired” transit center for what’s supposed to be a brand new, unflawed transit center; but, they also get to pay for the repairs too. And, taxpayers also get to pay increased annual operation, maintenance and inspection costs resulting from the “errors and omissions”. Taxpayers even get to pay for remedial Structures 101 starring the venerable old professor and his "errors and omissions" students.  The SSTC is the gift that just keeps on giving.

A question for the professor: Your report says that the 315 ft. by 580 ft. SSTC has no expansion/contraction joints, despite the fact that WMATA requires expansion/contraction joints be spaced no more than 100 ft. apart. And, despite the fact that the SSTC was supposed to have been designed and built to WMATA standards. The question is: Will the repairs that you are making “fix” the SSTC’s lack of expansion/contraction joints, and the resulting cracking, or will the SSTC continue to crack after your “repairs” are made?

and, the follow-up:

"uncompassionate", or "misinformed"? no thanks to politicians, bureaucrats (e.g. MoCo (including their consultants), WMATA, Federal Transit Administration, Maryland Transit Administration) and media who keep saying that "the SSTC will absolutely be safe" despite the fact that they can't predict the future and despite the fact that they lack the qualifications to speak on such matters. particularly galling is the media who tout that they cover the news "in depth" and "ask probing questions". There's been none of that with the SSTC. Not once in all the coverage of this story have I seen media question how and why the SSTC wasn't bid for construction, as most large public works projects are, or why the engineer and the concrete inspector/tester and special quality control inspector were selected without using the normal open competitive process for selecting professional service firms for public works projects. "Public-private partnership", a.k.a. crony capitalism. If the media doesn't report these things, then how is one to know? ... Oh, that's right! The government will tell them. ... or not.

and another follow-up:

The County can't have it both ways. 1. The County took on construction management for the project with a full time team of County employees on site during construction. If the County felt that construction management for this project was beyond their capability, then the County should have hired a construction manager before construction began, instead of waiting until the problems show up and then say that the project is too much for their expertise. 2. A basic County responsibility is to approve all construction within the County. This is true everywhere.

and:

I made my share of mistakes during my career; I owned up to all of them. … For the design engineer (PB), the builder (Foulger-Pratt), the concrete inspector/tester and special quality inspector (Balter), the owner (MoCo), WMATA and the construction manager (MoCo) to overlook expansion/contraction joints in a 315 ft. by 580 ft. outdoor structure that’s supposed to have expansion/contraction joints spaced no farther than 100 ft. apart (a WMATA and contract requirement) is a real whopper.

and:

As someone who's been involved in projects costing $100+ million, you're aware that it's commonplace to have a qualified construction management firm, who is neither the design engineer nor the GC, manage the construction of the project for the owner, in this case Montgomery County. The person or persons at Montgomery County who decided not to hire an independent construction manager for the SSTC (choosing instead to place a team of fulltime County employees on the site during construction) made a horrible decision that cost taxpayers millions. That person or persons should be held accountable for their poor decision.