Report: Silver Spring Transit Center Flaws Won't Get Final Fix Until Spring

Permits to begin repair of the Silver Spring Transit Center were received last week, but the final phase of the repairs won't be able to happen until the spring, The Gazette reported.

The transit center was supposed to open in 2011, but the opening was delayed indefinitely after inspectors found cracks and disparities in concrete thicknesses throughout the structure, The Gazette reported.

Latex modified concrete (also known as LMC)—rather than a polymer overlay—is recommended by project engineer Parsons Brinckerhoff as the material to use to fix the flawed structure, which is plagued by cracks and thin concrete sections, David Dise, director of the county’s general services department, told the county council last spring. Both the county’s department of general services and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority agree that LMC is the best material to fix the $120-million structure, Patch reported last spring.

The latex modified concrete is a mix of Portland cement and latex concrete that is durable, flexible and more structurally sound than usual concrete, Dise said last spring. To apply it, the current surfaces would be scarified (i.e., chipped down) to provide enough of a "tooth" to accept the new layer of concrete, and then the LMC would be poured on top of that.

Now that the permits to fix the structure have been obtained, repair work can proceed through November, but because the latex modified concrete cannot be applied in temperatures below 40 degrees, that stage of the repair work cannot proceed until the spring, The Gazette reported.

>>>Read more, including how long the final, post-repair inspection process could take—on The Gazette's website.

Did you vote in the Action Committee for Transit's contest on when the transit center will open? The entry form and complete contest rules are on ACT's website. The prize is dinner for two at Silver Spring's 8407 kitchen bar, but the prize won't be awarded until the transit center is open, Patch reported in September.