Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Northern Virginia is no stranger to Metro’s Safe Track work. About half of the work has taken place on the corridor between Vienna and Ballston. There is more to come starting today, but the location makes it one of the toughest pills to swallow yet.
Work is being done between East Falls Church and West Falls Church, forcing trains to single-track and run only every 20 minutes. But unlike past surges, there will not be any extra trains added at an intermediate station like Ballston, meaning the impact will be felt from Reston to Largo, and from Vienna to New Carrollton for the first two weeks.
“It’s due to the location of the track work and the configuration of the signal system which prevents us from running additional service, or trains, as we did in previous surges,” Metro COO Joe Leader told reporters last week. “After the first two weeks, the work area will then shift, and we will be able to bring relief and a few additional trains serving the line as we establish a turn back move at East Falls Church.”
Previous shuttle buses that Metro, Arlington County and Fairfax County found popular in past surges will be back, including trips from Reston and Vienna to the Pentagon and Rosslyn, with intermediate stops in Arlington, which could see only packed trains rolling through. Leader also encouraged the use of VRE to L’Enfant Plaza or Union Station.
But while the other end of the line in Prince George’s County will be seeing the same decrease in train frequency,riders there are being left in the dark with no additional shuttle buses.
“We try and strategically place the bus service where we feel it’ll have the most impact,” Leader said.
“It’s going to be intense for the first two weeks,” Arlington Board Chair Libby Garvey said. “Telecommuting is really something we are all getting a lot more comfortable with in this day and age. Now is the time to do that.”
Transportation planners expect to see traffic get much worse on major east-west corridors through Fairfax and Arlington, like I-66 and Routes 29 and 50.
“It’s important to look at these (other) options, because otherwise we are going to have gridlock not only on I-66 and the parallel roadways, but also on the Orange and Silver lines,” Fairfax Department of Transportation Director Tom Biesiadny said. “Whether you’re on 66, whether you’re on 29, whether you’re on 50 or one of the other parallel roads, those commutes are going to change. There’s going to be more people competing for those spaces.”
This surge is scheduled to end on December 21, at which point Metro says it will take a break from 24/7 surges through the end of January.
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