Group is 'Sick and Tired' of Silver Spring Transit Center Delays
The Action Committee for Transit wants answers on when the long-delayed project will open.
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One year after Montgomery County officials announced that the concrete used to build the Silver Spring Transit Center was unevenly poured and would further delay the opening, a local transit advocacy group is calling for face time about the status of the project.
“Transit riders are sick and tired of this project's long history of delays,” said Tina Slater, president of the Action Committee for Transit (ACT). “It's now more than 15 years since [former County Executive] Doug Duncan promised us that the transit center would be finished in 1998."
The $108 million project will create space for taxis, Kiss and Ride cars and a network of buses near the Silver Spring Metro and MARC stations. County officials said last October that the center would be open at the end of the summer 2013.
"It's time for answers—not more excuses and more postponements,” said Slater.
The group wants a public meeting with county officials about the status of the center, something they said they were denied last year because of possible litigation against the builders of the center. An article in the Gazette quoted County Executive Isiah Leggett as saying there will be no legal action on the part of the county.
“There's no longer any excuse for keeping the facts from the public,” Slater said.
A “higher than expected occurrence of cracking” was observed in some of the structure’s concrete last September, David Dise, chief of the county's general services department, told a County Council committee in October. Dise said cracking is normal, but the “extent of the cracking and the nature of the cracking” made the county hire an outside firm, KCE Engineering, to create a full study of the cracks and what should be done to fix them.
KCE's report is expected to be complete this month, the Washington Examiner reports.
Richard S
8:00 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
They can build Hoover Dam in 4 years, why can't we get a simple transit center, this should be the mantra until the project is done.
tanisha
8:08 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
too cozy a relationship bt government and developer
jag
11:59 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Bull. That's why the county is refusing to sign off on the structure as-is? Because they're too FRIENDLY with the developer? Do you think before typing?
Craig
1:01 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
There is definitely something going on here... it isn't out of the question. Why hasn't the county come at them HARD? Are they being fined? And I remember reading a quote by Mr. Dise claiming that "once the weather turns" they could resume work.
ARE YOU SERIOUS? THE WEATHER HAS BEEN MILD so far, very far from bitterly cold or wet or dangerous. THIS IS THE REAL BS monsieur jag.
Kim Cooke
1:38 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Most governments are not diligent about avoiding contractor fraud and abuse, whether due to incompetence or corruption. This project is a glaring example of that fact. The times it has taken, the ever increasing costs, pouring that concrete to thicknesses so far off specs. Montgomery County officials involved should be removed. Hard-working, tax-paying citizens deserve an apology, a tax refund (realizing this will never come to pass), and a state of the art transit station now.
Rob Sugar
2:17 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Having worked nearby for the last 12 years, watching the continuing boondoggle that this project has become makes me embarrassed for the county. It shouldn't be residents and taxpayers who pay for the bad judgement, poor performance and after-the-fact oversight that are the hallmarks of this project. Add to that the opportunity cost lost for businesses and property owners and the inconvenience of commuters for the last four years, and there really ought to be a reckoning on who is responsible for this fiasco.
Wayne Phyillaier
8:38 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
As reported in the Gazette on Oct 11, 2012: "The Metropolitan Branch Trail on the west side of the station will open by November, which will “improve pedestrian access” to the Silver Spring Metro station, said Don Scheuerman, chief of the project management section for General Services."
This walkway has nothing to do with the structural problems in the deck, yet they could not manage to keep their promise to open it. And no explanation or apology.
Craig
1:03 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
DON'T FORGET: THESE ARE THE SAME PEOPLE WHO WANT YOUR MONEY TO BUILD THE $2.1 BILLION PURPLE LINE. The same central planners and idiots of this county who want to spend more money and tax us to build a purple line we don't need. THE TRANSIT CENTER WAS SUPPOSED TO OPEN SPRING OF 2012!! THIS WAS A DELAY from a previous opening of winter 2011.
DOLORES ROLES
4:15 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013
WHAT POSITIVE CHANGES CAN WE SILVER SPRING RESIDENTS EXPECT FROM THE PROPOSED PURPLE LINE? ENLARGING WAYNE AVENUE TO MAKE ROOM FOR TWO LANES OF MORE TRAFFIC ALONGSIDE THE TRACKS OF A TROLLEY CAR? WE WILL NEED TO SELL OUR HOMES OR PUT UP WITH THE CONSTRUCTION NOISE AND POLLUTION FOR WHO KNOWS HOW MANY YEARS? OUR LAWNS TAKEN FROM US BECAUSE OF EMMINENT DOMAIN/? THE NOTICES HAVE ALREADY BEEN RECEIVED BY RESIDENTS. WHERE IS DOUG DUNCAN TO PREVENT THIS MADNESS?