$80 million and whadaya get? At Government Center, ya get wet

IT's actually kind of great, because it makes the T look like child's play. At one point their fire detection system was going to be to pay a bunch of people to literally stand in a crowded room and yell fire.

You can't make this up.

Theoretically, Gov't Ctr is a modern indoor station and shouldn't hit freezing on the heated platform. Additionally, the Green Line uses overhead electricity, so the water shouldn't bridge anything on the rails (though I believe the wheels do create a ground, which is why they can't use rubber tires that would make less noise).

But hey, I wouldn't put money against either happening somehow.

This winter, instead of shoveling the small amount of snow we received, the Ⓣ applied tons and tons of salt. Perhaps because there was so little snow, they had more salt available than usual and wanted to use it up, or perhaps it was just sheer laziness.

This is incredibly foolish because salt is so destructive; it corrodes metal and breaks down concrete. As concrete ages, it becomes more salt-resistant, but new concrete is particularly vulnerable.

When some of us rail about grandiose and pretentious projects like Government Center, it's not because we don't want nice things, but it's because we've seen time and time again that the Ⓣ will not take care of them. It's like buying expensive toys for an irresponsible child. They might be amused for a few minutes, but the toys will invariably become lost, broken, or simply discarded.

For these Wonderland stairs to fall into such an appalling condition so quickly, there's certainly more than one party to blame. The design and specification of materials might be proper, but constant inspection needs to take place during construction to assure that those specifications are followed.

<sup>          July 2012 - stairs under construction

          June 2013 - brand new, just before bridge and stairs were opened</sup>

Sure enough, looking at this picture taken when those stairs were brand new, you can see how sloppily the masonry was finished, and how poorly the joints were grouted. After the freeze-thaw cycles of just a couple of winters, it's not surprising they're now falling apart in exactly the same places where there are visible stains and patches on the new staircase!

After construction is completed, inspection needs to continue, so that any flaws are detected in time to be rectified by the original contractors involved. I don't know if two years is too long for the Wonderland contractors to be held legally responsible, but the Ⓣ probably won't even bother to try.

( The application of huge amounts of salt is quite literally rubbing salt into the wounds! )

The Ⓣ lacks the in-house knowledge and skilled craftsmen needed to maintain their infrastructure on a day-to-day basis. Masonry, carpentry, plastering and painting are ancient professions. Knowledge, skills, and tricks-of-the-trade, are passed down from generation to generation.

Instead of letting everything deteriorate to the point where it needs to be completely rebuilt at great expense by outside consultants and contractors, it would be much more cost-effective to have full-time craftsmen repairing, patching and pointing-up little problems before they become bigger problems.

In addition to saving money in the long run, the stations would look nice everyday, and not just the first day they open.

Except that none of them are connected to copper tubing to actually lead the water away. Rather, one drip tray is located above another, which is located above a third one, and so on and so forth. Water falls from one tray into the next lower one, and eventually ends up draining to outside the track bed of the old Tremont Portal lines - where the "museum" Type 5 and PCC cars now reside.