Imagine being delivered this wreck after you pay retail for
a brand new luxury car. That’s what US citizens are getting for the federal $
that they invested in the new, yet-to-be-opened, $120M Silver Spring MD transit
center. The SSTC hasn’t even opened yet, and it’s full of cracks. Not only
that, but slabs that are supposed to be 10 inches thick are only 8 inches
thick, reinforcement is missing, and parts of the building weren’t designed to
adequately carry design loads.
I can hear it all now! The contractor, the engineer, the concrete inspection and testing firm, Montgomery County, and WMATA saying: "We can fix it! It'll look like brand new!"
Yeah, right!
Why should US citizens pay "top dollar" for a brand new transit center, and be delivered a patched-up, formerly-structurally-deficient, new (?) transit center with a bunch of Band-Aid fixes that will make it expensive to operate and maintain? Answer: they shouldn't.
I can hear it all now! The contractor, the engineer, the concrete inspection and testing firm, Montgomery County, and WMATA saying: "We can fix it! It'll look like brand new!"
Yeah, right!
Why should US citizens pay "top dollar" for a brand new transit center, and be delivered a patched-up, formerly-structurally-deficient, new (?) transit center with a bunch of Band-Aid fixes that will make it expensive to operate and maintain? Answer: they shouldn't.
For more, google “Silver
Spring Transit Center” or read the Executive Summary of the on-line report (Volume 1) at: http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgtmpl.asp?url=/content/dgs/sstc-structural-report.asp.
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