Metro will be suspending all daytime track work during the region’s Cherry Blossom season, however night work is still scheduled to impact Arlington.
Some track work will continue after 10 p.m., as the agency continues scheduled maintenance and capital improvement projects. Crews will be installing radio cables on the Yellow and Blue lines during Cherry Blossom season this year, causing single tracking in Arlington during the following times:
- March 22-24 on the Yellow Line between Pentagon City and L’Enfant Plaza, and on the Blue Line between Pentagon City and Arlington Cemetery
- March 25-29 on the Yellow Line between L’Enfant Plaza and Pentagon City
- April 1-5 on the Yellow Line between L’Enfant Plaza and Pentagon City
- April 7 on the Yellow Line between L’Enfant and Pentagon City
The transit agency says it will beef up service during the festival. Between Saturday, March 23 to Sunday, April 14, Metro lines will operate on the following schedule according to the announcement:
- Trains will arrive at downtown D.C. stations every 4-7 minutes
- Red Line trains could run every 6 minutes until 9:30 p.m.
- All other Saturday trains running every 12 minutes
- All other Sunday trains every 15 minutes
The Cherry Blossom Festival attracted 1.5 million visitors to the greater Washington region last year and netted $160 million in local revenue, reported the Washington Business Journal.
Visitors flocking to Cherry Blossom blooms are add trips aiding Metro’s flagging ridership which is now the lowest it’s been in 19 years. Historically, the petal-peepers provide some of Metro’s busiest days with little-used stations like Arlington Cemetery seeing 60-percent trip increases, according to the Metro’s now-defunct planning blog.