Metro’s next big shutdown starts Tuesday night

Starting Tuesday, Metro will shut down the rails between its National Airport and Braddock Road stations for seven days. Around 50,000 riders will feel the impact, and the move may provide the first big test for Crystal City’s still-new dedicated bus transitway.

This is the third “surge” in Metro’s SafeTrack plan, and it will start at 8 pm tonight and last through the end of July 11th. It’s the second time Metro has closed an entire segment during SafeTrack— a big Orange, Silver, and Blue Line closure just wrapped up, but the first surge was only single-tracking in Arlington.

South of the closure, Blue Line trains will operate every 15 minutes between Franconia and Braddock Road, and Yellow trains will run every 12 minutes between Huntington and Braddock Road. North of the closure, both Blue and Yellow Line trains will run every 12 minutes. Yellow Line trains will continue all the way north to Greenbelt.

To help shuttle people, Crystal City’s Transitway will run for free, and every six minutes during peak periods, between Pentagon City, Crystal City, and Braddock Road. There will also be an “express” shuttle from Braddock Road directly to Pentagon City, running every five minutes.

Some additional shuttles will run directly between the Franconia and Pentagon stations via I-395, and local jurisdictions have made other bus schedule changes as noted on the Metrorail advisory page.

Can the new BRT system ease coming headaches?

The Metroway only opened back in April, and this Metro surge could be a way for the bus system to demonstrate what it’s capable of. With Metroway buses running every 6 minutes during rush and possibly even more frequently like during the Orange/Silver/Blue shutdown, we should be able to see what kind of capacity the dedicated lanes can handle.

Metroway’s ability to stand in for Metro during SafeTrack will stay relevant during the next surge, which will close tracks between Pentagon City and National Airport.

Metro estimates 50,000 weekday trips are made through the section being shut down, which is still significantly more per hour than the buses could handle. During the second surge with buses coming on average every two minutes, around 1,800 passengers per hour were able to be transported between either Minnesota Avenue or Benning Road through to Eastern Market. There very likely still will not be enough bus capacity for everybody needing to get north of Braddock Road station, so Metro and jurisdictions hope that those who can take alternate transportation or telework do so.

The tracks between Braddock Road and National Airport are mostly aerial, which means there’s less total space for crews to work in. Metro’s decision fully shut service down was likely for at least two reasons: First, it’s safer for the workers, as they don’t have to be watching out for trains in the opposite direction every few minutes; Second, shutting down both tracks should let them get the work done quicker. At the least, since there are no wooden rail ties to replace on the raised aerial structures, there’s one less type of work to focus on.

For those wanting to get a little exercise in, there are also several Capital Bikeshare stations near the affected stations, and biking in the area recently got a bit easier thanks to the completion of several changes on the Mount Vernon Trail near National Airport.