Railroad Forums 

  • Silver Spring no-Transit Center

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #1166286  by farecard
 
Reading the engineering report, I have to wonder why Sarbanes would want his name on the disaster. I'm reminded of an electrical engineer friend who described a product
There were only three things wrong with it: bad design, bad parts, bad manufacturing. Other than that, it was great...
Needless to say, anyone using Silver Spring will be walking past it for many years, unless they elect to just tear it down and start over. And either way, nothing will happen until it goes through years of litigation.
 #1166464  by Sand Box John
 
I have seen my share of sierra foxtrots construction project, but this one is a sierra foxtrots of biblical proportions. In my opinion the contractors committed criminal malpractice and fraud.

The engineering report was pretty damming, the attachment back it up:

Attachments - Volume 1 (39.5 MB PDF file)
Attachments - Volume 2 (72.8 MB PDF file)
Attachments - Volume 3 (84.4 MB PDF file)

I happen to think, If this been a WMATA managed project it would not have turn out this way.
 #1166471  by farecard
 
Sand Box John wrote: I happen to think, If this been a WMATA managed project it would not have turn out this way.
Except WMATA laid off all their construction folks a few years back.
 #1167045  by Sand Box John
 
"farecard"

Except WMATA laid off all their construction folks a few years back.


This is true, However what they have left has been very good at supervising what was built to make sure it met or exceeded the specified requirement.

Southern F route Green line.
G route extension to Largo.
New garages built at several station.
New shop in New Carrollton Yard, new back shop in Greenbelt Yard expanded shops in Shady Grove and Brentwood Yards.
Expansion of capacity to the entrance a Navy Yard.

Most of these project were design built contract.
 #1167644  by realtype
 
The county has maintained (and continues to do so) that litigation won't delay the project. Before the report was released it seemed that all fingers were pointing a F-P subcontractor that poured concrete, but the report had plenty of blame to spread around both at Foulger-Pratt themselves, the third-party inspection team, and the designer Parsons-Brinckerhoff. That last name should be familiar because they were found at fault in a similar, but larger scale, transportation project boondoggle in Boston--the Big Dig. At least in this case problems were identified before ceiling tiles started collapsing.

The good news (what little there is) is that KCE seemed certain that the problems could be solved without tearing down the current structure. Even still, my non-engineer prediction for delivery of the project is Sept 2014 or later. My guess as to the schedule from here on out:

- 3 months for the county to decide what to do in typical bureaucratic fashion
- 3 months to select a new contractor
- 3 months to design some of the fixes laid out in the KCE report (some were complex, while others were pretty much straightforward)
- 6 months to actually fix the structure
- 3 months for inspections, acceptance, bureaucracy, etc.
 #1177878  by farecard
 
Metro says it will not operate troubled Silver Spring hub

Metro has told Montgomery County it will not operate the Silver Spring Transit Center as planned because construction and design flaws plaguing the $120 million facility have made it too expensive to maintain.

Under the terms of a 2008 agreement, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is supposed to take control of the three-level bus-and-train hub from the county after completion. Metro would operate the center, which is adjacent to its Silver Spring station, as a part of its regional system.

....
 #1177908  by realtype
 
Wow, I honestly didn't see this one coming. I love it how every time it seems that we're back on a path for opening this thing something like this happens screws it all up. Not cool Metro.
 #1177912  by farecard
 
realtype wrote:Wow, I honestly didn't see this one coming. I love it how every time it seems that we're back on a path for opening this thing something like this happens screws it all up. Not cool Metro.
I'm no prophet & I saw it coming eons ago.
WMATA does not want the white elephant.....
 #1178434  by Sand Box John
 
Why should this surprise anybody. WMATA defined specific design requirements. Those design requirements were either changed or ignored. The deal is the structural correction the county intends to make it safe to use still do not conform to WMATA's original specified design requirements. As far as I am concerned WMATA is under no obligation to take possession transit center because of this fact.
 #1230506  by ThirdRail7
 
There is nothing like overhauling something that has never been used! :wink:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md- ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Silver Spring Transit Center will require additional repairs, county says

Please allow a brief "fair use" quote:
Montgomery County officials have determined that the troubled Silver Spring Transit Center, which is two years behind schedule and tens of millions of dollars over budget, needs even more extensive repairs before it opens to the public, officials said Tuesday.

In addition to fixing cracks that appeared throughout the three-level structure, project contractors need to strengthen about 250 interior beams and girders to stand up to heavy bus traffic at the transit hub, according to the county’s general services director, David Dise.

Dise told the County Council that the additional work will not further delay the project, which broke ground five years ago. Estimates are that it will be mid-2014 at the earliest before the center is opened. The center, at Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road, will bring together Metro, Ride On, MARC, Amtrak, intercity bus lines, taxis and other transportation services.

Dise’s disclosure raised fresh questions about the original design of the facility by Parsons Brinckerhoff, an international engineering firm. Two engineering consultants, one hired by the county and the other by Metro, said this year that the center’s design was too rigid, leaving little room for natural movement and increasing the likelihood of serious cracking.

Dise attributed beam and girder problems to Parsons Brinckerhoff.

“It would appear to be a design error,” Dise said.