From Automated Email Notification <FTA> fta.sqlexecserv@dot.govhide details
To rkoenigsc
Thu, Mar 6, 2014 12:00 am
DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. This is an automatically generated email from FTA's Contact Us Tool. Contact information is located at the end of this message.
Question: I am a retired civil engineer. My question concerns the Silver Spring Transit Center in Montgomery County, MD. 53% of the funding for the SSTC is being provided by FTA and 11% by MMTA. In March 2013 the County reported that it had contracted with local Washington, D.C. engineering firm KCE to evaluate extensive cracking in the yet-to-be-opened Silver Spring Transit Center. KCE's report attributes the extensive cracking to errors and omissions by the SSTC's builder/contractor Foulger Pratt, the engineer/designer Parsons Brinkerhoff and the concrete tester/inspector and special quality inspector Balter Co. KCE's report addresses other serious flaws: slabs more than an inch thinner than the 10 inches thick slabs called for in construction documents, exposed reinforcement, missing reinforcement and other construction, design and inspection and testing flaws. Since release of the KCE report last March, other flaws have been discovered: 250 beams that are under-designed, leaks, etc. The County intends to add a two inch thick latex concrete overlay to the SSTC in spring 2014 after freezing temperatures have passed. Missing from numerous media reports and public statements from Montgomery County officials is an announcement for a public meeting(s) where those paying for the SSTC are given the opportunity to ask County officials our questions and to make our comments for the record. Why? Why hasn’t FTA required public meetings to allow paying citizens to provide their input?
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I received my first "automatically generated email" on Feb. 8. It acknowledged that the FTA received my question.
I received my second "automatically generated email" (update) on Feb. 28. Except for the date, it is identical to the "automatically generated email" that I received today (March 6).
Is anybody home at the FTA? Or is the FTA like the IRS--they don't answer questions from citizens.
The US government is on autopilot. Small wonder that millions of dollars have been and are being wasted on the Silver Spring Transit Center.
Decades ago US sailors developed two acronyms that describe the situation with the federal government and the Silver Spring Transit Center perfectly: (1) SNAFU: Situation Normal--All Fouled Up ("cleaned up" version) and (2) FUBAR: Fouled Up Beyond ALL Recognition" ("cleaned up" version).
