(Updated at 3:20 p.m.) A summer of headaches for Blue and Yellow line riders will kick off this weekend with changes along the Blue Line — and more Metro closures ahead.
Arlington Cemetery will close this Saturday and Sunday while crews install a grade crossing. Because of the construction, Blue Line trains will run as Yellow Line trains going to Greenbelt, and riders heading toward or returning from Largo Town Center will need to catch the Silver Line, Metro says.
Free shuttle buses running every 10-15 minutes will ferry passengers between the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery.
“To get to Rosslyn from the Pentagon (and stops south) customers should travel across the Yellow Line bridge and transfer at L’Enfant to an Orange or Silver Line train,” Metro spokesman Ian Jannetta told ARLnow.
Jannetta said the station’s shutdown will not affect the opening hours of Arlington Cemetery itself, and is for crews to build a way for rail inspection vehicles to access the tracks.
“This will be especially useful during the summer platform work, which will cut off hi-rail vehicle access to the system from the Alexandria rail yard,” he said.
The summer shutdown referred to will begin next Saturday, May 25, Metro will close the following six stations in Alexandria, below Reagan National Airport, until September 8 for planned reconstruction of the station’s crumbling platforms:
- Eisenhower
- Van Dorn Street
- King Street-Old Town
- Franconia-Springfield
- Braddock Road
- Huntington
The airport’s own Metrorail station will remain open during the “summer shutdown,” and passengers who can travel there by rail are encouraged to do so to curb the worsening traffic from ride-hailing cars and ongoing construction that’s expected to last until 2021.
“It’s very key to our success that folks continue using public transit — the normal train service going north and free shuttle buses going south for the summer to be successful,” a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority told WTOP yesterday (Thursday.)
Arlington Transportation Partners (ATP), a division of Arlington County Commuter Services (ACCS), is advising commuters to “add at least 30 minutes to their commute times during the shutdown” and consider alternative transportation options like biking or carpooling.
During rush hour, free shuttle buses will run every five minutes between the affected stations and direct shuttles will run to the Pentagon. The shuttles will run every 10 minutes during non-rush hours.
Metro will also be making parking free at Franconia-Springfield, Huntington, and Van Dorn stations during the shutdown.
The Virginia Department of Transportation is paying $3.6 million to beef up other transportation methods like additional bus service in Alexandria.
Arlington did not receive grant money, but has said ART may add bus service during the shutdown.
Alexandria’s plans to increase DASH bus service could be complicated due to a recent vote by the bus drivers’ union to strike over low wages, according to NBC 4.
NEW: as the major Metro shutdown looms on the Blue and Yellow Lines, some critically needed bus operators say they are ready to go on strike to make a point about poor pay and benefits. #wmata @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/yqEnNPVVo3
— Adam Tuss (@AdamTuss) May 16, 2019
Anyone using the Virginia Railway Express who has a monthly pass or multi-trip pass will receive a 50 percent discount during the shutdown. Fares will cost $4 per trip for pass holders instead of $8, reported WTOP.
The VDOT grant also funds more water taxi trips, which some have suggested as a commuting alternative.
Metro announced last year that it was closing the six stations for the summer to rebuild crumbling platforms. In a statement on its website about the project, Metro said:
The station closures are part of Metro’s three-year Platform Improvement Project that will completely reconstruct the outdoor platforms at 20 Metrorail stations, making platforms safer and more accessible for customers with disabilities, while also addressing safety concerns and longstanding structural issues
Earlier this month, the transit agency extended its estimates for how long that construction would take, angering some officials who said the original timeline was already a strain on the region.
Screenshot via Metro