Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) In what would be the longest track shutdown in the system’s history, Metro is planning on shuttering six stations on the Blue and Yellow lines over 98 days to demolish and rebuild station platforms.
The shutdown would happen between Memorial Day and Labor Day 2019, during a period which Metro says it sees lighter ridership than the rest of the year. All stations south of Reagan National Airport – Braddock Road, King Street, Eisenhower Avenue, Huntington, Van Dorn Street, and Franconia-Springfield – would be closed for the duration of the work.
Station platforms on this stretch of the system are between 20 and 34 years old. They are showing their age, Metro said.
“At many of these stations, temporary measures have been installed to stabilize the platforms to ensure passenger safety until reconstruction can take place,” the agency said in a release.
The planned shutdown is an attempt at expediting the process, as Metro says previous reconstruction efforts that have kept stations open have taken around three years.
The first phase of the reconstruction project will result in the demolition and rebuilding of platforms at King Street, Braddock Road, and Eisenhower Avenue stations. Platforms at Van Dorn Street, Franconia-Springfield, Huntington, and Reagan National Airport stations will be rebuilt between September 2019 and May 2020, necessitating only single-tracking around the work. 13 more stations are set to see work through 2021, with service plans still to be worked out.
“Metro will partner with the jurisdictions and other transportation agencies to develop traffic mitigations and customer travel alternatives,” Metro said. “Metro customers will be given at least three months of advance notice prior to any service change under the program.”
The project is the first major construction investment to come from the dedicated funding recently approved in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia, Metro said.
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