You find old reports with the same tired, stale, regurgitated, "line"--"it's going to open soon", "it's not going to cost the public any more money", "it's the contractors' fault", "it's safe", etc.
Despite the fact that we've known about the SSTC's many design, construction, inspection and management flaws for more than two years, you won't find answers to these questions:
- Why doesn't the 315 ft. wide by 580 ft. long SSTC have any expansion joints? Check out parking garages--at shopping malls, at airports, any parking garage--and you'll find plenty of these: but, not at the Silver Spring Transit Center! WMATA design and construction standards require expansion/contraction joints to be located no farther apart than every 100 ft.! The absence of any expansion/contraction joints in the 315 ft. wide by 580 ft. long Silver Spring Transit Center is an absolutely incredible design, construction, inspection and management oversight! Cracking in concrete decks, beams, girders and columns? Of course there's cracking! And, there will continue to be cracking because "repairs" don't address the 315 ft. wide by 580 ft. long SSTC's complete lack of expansion joints! DUH!
- Why did Montgomery County non-competitively select private builder Foulger Pratt, private engineer Parsons Brinkerhoff and private concrete inspector/tester Balter Co., when private companies are selected competitively for most public works projects?
- Why didn't Montgomery County, the Federal Transit Administration or the Maryland Transit Administration hold public hearings after release of the KCE report ( www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DGS-BDC/Resources/Files/SS/509974/SSTC-Report-March-15-2013 ), where taxpayers (county, state and federal) could ask their questions and provide their comments on the public record, before the County spent tens of millions additional public money on "repairs", and before the SSTC is opened to the public?
- Why have Montgomery County officials and their paid and unpaid consultants said repeatedly that the SSTC is (or will be) safe, given its numerous structural flaws--widespread cracking, no expansion joints, under-strength and over-stressed concrete, slabs more than an inch thinner than what they're supposed to be, missing reinforcement, exposed reinforcement, design errors, concrete test reports that show exactly the same test data for multiple samples, etc.?
I find the latter to be particularly strange, because:
- many of the design, construction and inspection errors documented in KCE's report are not addressed by "repairs", e.g., the SSTC's complete lack of expansion joints, under-strength and over-stressed concrete and cracking in concrete girders and columns.
- the SSTC hasn't seen its first fully loaded bus
- In numerous news media reports Montgomery County officials and their paid and unpaid private consultants say that the SSTC is, or will be, safe. David Dise has been quoted numerous times as saying "The SSTC will absolutely be safe." Why are they so sure? Do they have x-ray vision that allows them to search for undetected structural flaws inside the SSTC's hardened concrete frame, e.g. missing reinforcement, reinforcement that is less than what is called for (diameter, length, grade, embedment length and details, insufficiently tied to other reinforcement, etc.)? Surely with the many structural flaws that KCE uncovered with their random tests, there must be additional flaws that are yet undetected. Are they seers? Can they foretell the future?
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| "The SSTC will absolutely be safe." Repairs On Long-Delayed Silver Spring Transit Center Could Be Done Next Year | WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio |
- A severely flawed structure can result in failure and death.
In the hundreds of the news media reports over the past more than two years (print, TV, radio, internet) not a single reporter or news media outlet has asked these questions. Instead, we get the same old stuff (SOS)--tired, stale and regurgitated.
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| There are many unanswered questions with the Silver Spring Transit Center Valerie Ervin on Silver Spring Transit Center and Election 2014 - YouTube |
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| Councilman Phil Andrews says the SSTC is a "monumental debacle" Silver Spring Transit Center to cost taxpayers even more money | WJLA.com |
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| Silver Spring Transit Center Botched Jobs Hall of Shame Lemon Award |
Full steam ahead with the public-private partnership Purple Line after the "monumental debacle", public-private partnership Silver Spring Transit Center?
Yeah, that makes sense.
DUH!
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