June 9, 2015 | by Krista Brick

WMATA to Get Silver Spring Transit Center by Mid-July

All remediation work at the Silver Spring Transit Center will be completed by the end of the week and the project will be handed over to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority by mid-July, the project manager told MyMCMedia Tuesday.

According to David Dise, the county’s director of General Services, the project is in its final week of remediation including work on the strut beams and the latex modified concrete overlay. All that is left on the project after removing scaffolding used in the repairs is to install 36 display cabinets, built to held the electronic vehicle notification system which will take about five to six weeks. The original design of the units were found not to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Dise said.

“We are working with WMATA collaboratively to handle issues to identify punch list items,” Dise said. That means those items are being addressed as they are found rather than after the hand-off of the project to the Authority. “Hopefully that will less the period of inspection and acceptance.”

WMATA by contract has 60 days after the project is completed to officially accept it, according to Dise.

County Councilmember Craig Rice told MyMCMedia on Monday, the center would be open by the end of August. Dise would not confirm that saying only that WMATA will make an opening date determination. WMATA has also refused to divulge an opening timeframe.

Dise said WMATA has scheduled bus driver training at the facility in late July.

The transit center, to be dedicated when it eventually opens as the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center located of Colesville Road, is to be a transportation mecca with:

32 bus bays for WMATA Metrobus, Montgomery County Ride-On, MTA regional commuter bus, Van-Go shuttle, Inter-city Buses, and University of Maryland Shuttle,
Direct access to Metrorail and MARC,
54 Kiss & Ride spaces and taxi spaces,
Intelligent Transportation system,
Multi-modal transit store,
Accommodation for future Bi-County Transitway, connections to regional hiker/biker trails and a local trail, and open space replacement and enhancement.

It is years over its anticipated opening date and at last estimate about $50 million over its original budget.

Metro General Manager to Accept Silver Spring Transit Center

Metro’s Board of Directors gave Interim General Manager Jack Requa the authority to accept the Silver Spring Transit Center from Montgomery County. On Thursday, Aug. 6, board members approved the measure that now allows Requa to make the decision to accept the facility. “The reason this is important is that, in order to accept the […]

Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center in Silver Spring for slider 450 x 280 1

The Paul Sarbanes Transit Center in Silver Spring is moving closer to completion and transfer to WMATA. General Services Director David Dise says the last inspections are taking place as WMATA reviews the final punch list before taking over. Dise says the transfer is expected in the next few weeks when WMATA will start training […]

The Silver Spring Transit Center is years behind schedule and has cost overruns into the millions. K.C.E. Structural Engineers President Allyn Kilsheimer, the guy in charge of making sure the structural deficiencies are fixed, gave MyMCMedia’s Krista Brick a look at the progress going on inside the fenced construction site. Related:

Montgomery County’s Director of General Services David Dise gives his view on the repairs being done to the Silver Spring Transit Center. Related:

K.C.E. Structural Engineers President Allyn Kilsheimer talks about the fixes at the Silver Spring Transit Center in this MyMCMedia Extra. Here’s his take on WMATA’s concerns about the extensive repair work to the concrete at the center. And, Kilsheimer talks about what would have happened to the concrete prior to the fixes with a full […]

The much-maligned Silver Spring Transit Center is a hub of activity but not with the planned buses and commuters, but rather with workers wielding hand-held jack hammers and epoxy guns trying to make the necessary repairs to get the building open. Montgomery County Director of General Services David Dise along with K.C.E. Structural Engineers President […]

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WMATA to Get Silver Spring Transit Center by Mid-July

Metro General Manager to Accept Silver Spring Transit Center

Silver Spring Transit Center Update