Is the public mad? They should be.

***** UPDATE *****
November 5, 2014

It just goes to show that it’s OK to waste tens of millions of dollars of the public's money in Democratic party controlled Montgomery County MD. On a $130+ million (and counting), 550% over-budget (and counting), 17+ years overdue (and counting) lemon. A glorified parking garage, that is severely flawed, and needs “repairs” before it’s opened to the public. Where Montgomery County blames the SSTC’s builder, engineer and concrete inspector/tester, that Montgomery County selected noncompetitively using a public-private partnership; but, doesn't blame itself. Besides being responsible for review and approval of all construction inside Montgomery County, the County is also owner of record and construction manager for the SSTC. With all of this, Montgomery County takes no responsibility itself for the lemon SSTC. 
AMAZING! 
Only in America.
Only in Montgomery County, MD.
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November 4, 2014

We'll find out today how mad that the public is about the Silver Spring Transit Center.

They should be plenty mad.

First, there's the fact that in 1993 former Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan declared publicly that the $20 million Silver Spring Transit Center will be complete in 1998.

Today the SSTC is unopened to the public and its cost has exceeded $130 million. The final cost for the SSTC, including costs for "repairs", extras, consultant fees, attorneys' fees and extraordinary operations and maintenance costs caused by the SSTC's numerous flaws are unknown.

Second, there's the question of the SSTC's safety. "Chunks of concrete" have fallen from the building. Then there are the serious flaws, some, but not all, of which were revealed in the structural report that Montgomery County made public in March 2013. 

Deck slabs, beams, girders and columns are severely cracked. 

The SSTC has no expansion joints, despite the fact that WMATA design and construction standards, to which the SSTC was supposed to have been designed and constructed, require expansion joints to be spaced no farther than 100 feet apart. The 315 ft. by 580 ft. SSTC has none.

Deck slabs in some places are more than an inch thinner than what they're supposed to be. Reinforcement is exposed; some is missing entirely. 250+ beams are under-reinforced. Concrete is understrength and overstressed. etc.

The March 2013 structural report blames the SSTC's severe design, construction and concrete inspection and testing flaws on "errors and omissions" by the SSTC's builder/contractor Foulger Pratt, design engineer Parsons Brinkerhoff and concrete inspector/tester Balter Co. Clearly Montgomery County shares the blame. Montgomery County noncompetitively selected (public-private partnership) Foulger Pratt to build the SSTC, Parsons Brinkerhoff to design it and Balter Co. to inspect and test concrete and to serve as special quality inspector. Besides the County's basic responsibility to review and approve all construction within the County, Montgomery County is owner of record and construction manager for the SSTC with a full time team of County employees on site during construction.

Mad? The public should be mad. 53% of the funding for the SSTC are federal funds, making us all stakeholders in this over-budget and overdue lemon. 11% are MD state funds and 36% are Montgomery County funds. A project that started out at $20 million is 550% over-budget, and the end is not in sight. The SSTC was supposed to open in 1998. Will it open in 2015, 17 years after it was promised to the public? Who knows?

Will voters show their anger this election day? 
I'm not holding my breath.

Silver Spring Transit Center