Workers along the tracks at the rail yard at Dulles Airport as Phase 2 construction continues along Metro’s Silver Line. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
When the first phase of Metro’s Silver Line was under construction, large sections of track had to be built over the Capital Beltway. Workers had to bore a tunnel in the middle of Tysons, one of the busiest retail and office centers in the country. In the end, the 11.7-mile rail-line extension was completed six months late and more than $220 million over budget.
Officials were confident construction of Phase 2 would be much smoother. They were using a different contractor, there were fewer construction challenges, and they had learned many lessons from the first phase.
Fast-forward five years, and construction of the final portion of the $5.8 billion rail line, which was expected to be wrapped up next month, may not be completed until next spring or summer. Trains that were originally set to begin running in January probably won’t start carrying passengers until mid-to-late 2020.
Executives in charge of the project are at a loss to explain the delay.
“It’s hard to say why we need that extra time beyond August 7 at this point,” said Charles Stark, executive director of the rail project, referring to t
The cynic in me says all involved, from the engineering firms to the construction firms to whoever are milking this job for all it’s worth.
We had a major highway contruction project here in the Richmond VA area ten or so years ago that was going way beyond it’s scheduled finish date and way beyond the projected cost. Long story short the state got fed up and fired the construction firm hired to do it. The replacement outfit got it done in no time, and on budget.
When I was working at any of my employers construction sites, all trucks that delivered concrete, had to have a test clinder of concrete poured for testing. After a defined period, (days) it had to exceed the prescribed force in compression or the concrete supplier was charged for its removal and replaymemt. There were very few times that the cylinders failed the strength test. Quality good was emphasized. Sounds like the Metro needs a good QC department.
WMATA should have used the original builders of Phase One, Bechtel et al, called “Dulles Transit Partners.”
I have no idea why WMATA awarded Phase Two to anyone but the successful Bechtel-led “Dulles Transit Partners.” It’s a textbook case of abject stupidity.
We will suffer problems on the Silver Line for most of our lifetimes due to WMATA’s typical idiocy awarding the second phase of a transit line to a completely inept partnership called “Capital Rail Constructors” who built girders that developed cracks, cement walls whose defects will require decades of unnecessary maintenance, faulty concrete with aggregate sourced from an unauthorized quarry, and 400 faulty concrete rail ties that caused the rails to bend outward.
Tell me again why WMATA stupidly declined to employ the original builders of Phase One, Bechtel et al, called “Dulles Transit Partners,” who built an exemplary railroad. The “Capital Rail Constructors” threaten to destroy transit to Dulles Airport and beyond due to their own stupidity.
The entire Silver Line is being constructed by Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) and NOT WMATA. WMATA will operate the line but construction and funding are being handled by MWAA, the operator of Dulles International and Reagan National airports. This is the first time that WMATA was not involved in subsequent build-outs after the completion of the original system; the Purple Line in Maryland is also being built by others and not WMATA.
