$65M Lawsuit Over Troubled Silver Spring Transit Station

ROCKVILLE, MD -- The Paul S. Sarbanes Silver Spring Transit Center was completed five years late and at $47 million over budget, and Montgomery County is taking the contractors to court. The county aims to recover about $65 million total.

The county argues that the project developers, including Parsons Brinckerhoff and Foulger-Pratt, mishandled the engineering and design of the project. The county seeks approximately $45 million in cost overruns and $20 million in damages.

The county ended up spending about $147 million on the project. While the county is seeking payments from the contractors, the contractors are seeking payments from the county. Bethesda Magazine reported that the contractors are attempting to recover millions of dollars, claiming they were unpaid by the county.

According to Bethesda Magazine, the county is alleging that the contractors on the project were negligent and misrepresented the design to the county, citing the presence of cracked concrete before the project was finished. Earlier this year, the County Council approved $4.2 million to cover legal costs in the case.

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