Metro has spent $3.8 million and 5 years building 2 bike racks. They're still unfinished.
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABC7) — Metro has spent $3.8 million and taken five years to build two unfinished bike racks - at East Falls Church and Vienna Metro Stations.
WMATA originally budgeted $600,000 for each rack, but the price tag has soared to $1.9 million each.
The covered bike shelters will house 92 bikes, putting the price tag at more than $20,000 per bike. Future costs to finish the projects could raise that number even higher.
The projects were supposed to be completed in December of 2015 but remain unfinished in 2020.
READ MORE: Why an East Falls Church Metro bike rack under construction for 5 yrs still isn't finished
Metro says due to “Numerous construction quality issues, including damage caused by a contractor repeatedly drilling into an underground duct bank, led to lengthy delays.”
The transit agency severed ties with the first contractor four years ago. Metro says a second contractor also did not meet its quality control standards. In a statement to ABC7, Metro says “Quality control issues with contractors can take time to sort out, but Metro determined it was more important to get the project done right rather than get it done quickly.”
In January 2020 signs at the fenced-off construction site said the project would wrap up in late 2018. After ABC7 aired its story in January, the signs were removed.
ABC7 has requested all documents related to this project between the transit agency and the contractors involved though a Freedom of Information Act request. We have still not received any documents.
While regular riders say they have not seen construction workers here in months, WMATA says it hopes to have the project completed in the next few months.
