Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Why did the Silver Spring Transit Center crack?

Always follow instructions.

WMATA's design and construction standards, to which the SSTC was supposed to have been designed and constructed, require expansion/contraction joints be installed no more than 100 feet apart.

The 315 ft. by 580 ft. SSTC has NONE.

This is what happens when you don't follow instructions:

This is why:
http://www.structuremag.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/C-StrucDesign-Iqbal-Oct101.pdf

The "repairs" that are now being done to the SSTC (latex concrete overlay and exterior reinforcement for under-designed beams) won't fix the source of the cracking: the SSTC's total lack of expansion/contraction joints. The SSTC will continue to crack. 

The public paid more than retail ($130+ million; 53% federal funding, 11% state and 36% county) for a brand new, unflawed transit center; the public doesn't deserve this lemon. 





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