Merry Christmas

I'm taking a breather (but not a complete break) from the Silver Spring Transit Center photo blog. All visible activity has halted as a result of the two feet of snow that blanketed our fair city last week. I rather doubt that anything of note will be happening over the holidays, so I will start up again in January, weather permitting. In the meantime, stay warm, enjoy your families and friends. All the very best wishes to you all for the year ahead.

Signs of Life at Silver Spring Transit Center (again)

Activity at the Silver Spring Transit Center and Mud Hole seems to be picking up in a more visible way lately. The noise level was definitely up this morning. From the sound of it, they were breaking up a layer of rock or concrete using one of those big drop-hammer machines. The latest batch of photos, which I took yesterday, show the hole getting deeper and the retaining wall getting bigger.

The Washington Post finally had something to say on the matter. Dr. Gridlock's page in Sunday's paper showed the grass-covered slopes from a few months ago (print issue only, apparently) and a drawing of what the completed project is supposed to look like. The article basically recapped what the bloggers have been telling you for months -- the project is behind schedule, and much of the activity (relocating utility lines, removing contaminated soil) has been the kind that is not easily visible from the street. Things will probably get noisier over the next several months, when the rock blasting starts. The hole will grow to roughly twice the size of what it was this summer, according to the Post article, which quotes David Dise, director of Montgomery County's Department of General Services. "Once the excavation is done, you're going to see it spring out of the ground," Dise said, referring to the bus plaza and other buildings planned for the center. I hope he's right. At the pace things are moving now, I keep having to check the date stamps on my photos to make sure I'm posting the right ones from week to week.

Silver Spring Transit Center, the Dig Continues

Another week, a bigger hole in the ground. What else can I say?
If you have just started reading this blog, here is a summary of the most useful links so far:
An October 21, 2009 article from the Silver Spring Gazette, which estimates completion of the project in February 2011. The article cites utility line relocations as the source of the delay.

An October 27, 2009 blog posting from the Silver Spring Penguin adds petrochemical cleanup from a former fuel storage facility, and naturally occurring asbestos to the mix.

A YouTube contributor known as "obz3rv3r" has posted several time-lapse photo sequences of the evolution of the hole in the ground, spanning from June through early November 2009.

But basically, it's still just a big hole in the ground.

Silver Spring Transit Center, More Photos

I'm back in town and I managed to take several photos of the Silver Spring Transit Center-to-be this morning. Lots of digging in the dirt and trucks going back and forth. It's still a big hole in the ground, but most of the grass is gone from the slopes and there does seem to be a lot of activity. Which is more than I can say for the various municipal and county websites that are supposed to be keeping us current on this project.

I somehow missed an October posting from the Silver Spring Penguin that goes into some detail on the toxic petrochemicals and naturally occurring asbestos that had to be dealt with during excavation.

Here's a November 11 blog posting with some interesting info on how the Purple Line fits into the whole scheme of things.