Metro plans major Columbus Day weekend closures
By: Kytja Weir
Examiner Staff Writer
October 2, 2009
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Metro is planning a major shutdown of Green Line service in the heart of downtown for the three-day Columbus Day weekend, even as thousands flood the city for Wizards and Capitals games, a bike fundraiser and a gay rights march.
Columbus Day closures » WHERE: The Green Line will be closed at the L'Enfant, Waterfront SEU and Archives/Navy Memorial stations. Yellow Line trains will follow the Blue Line, ending at Stadium Armory rather than Fort Totten.» WHEN: 10:30 p.m. Friday-5 a.m. Tuesday.
» HOW: Riders should add up to 45 extra minutes in travel plans. Metro suggests walking for a short distances instead of transferring trains or using the free shuttles.
The transit system is planning to complete major track work at the L'Enfant Plaza stop, so it needs to stop Green Line service at the high-traffic station, plus the adjacent Waterfront-SEU and Archives/Navy Memorial stops. Yellow Line trains will be rerouted along the Blue Line tracks.
The closures come shortly after officials and riders criticized Metro for shutting down service to three stops, including the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport station, for Labor Day weekend.
This time, Metro officials are trying to get the word out early and often. They have plastered posters around stations and plan to start distributing 120,000 pamphlets on Monday. They also plan to coordinate free shuttle buses with the arrival of trains.
But Columbus Day poses a bigger challenge for the agency than the Labor Day debacle: The closures affect a key downtown transfer station and they cover a holiday when many private-sector commuters will work.
But Columbus Day poses a bigger challenge for the agency than the Labor Day debacle: The closures affect a key downtown transfer station and they cover a holiday when many private-sector commuters will work.
The transit system ferried about 412,000 trips on its trains on Columbus Day compared with 227,000 trips on Labor Day last year.
The closures were planned before marchers decided to descend on the nation's capital that weekend to push for gay marriage. Jim Hughes, a senior planner for Metro, said the work and march ideally would not be at the same time. "But our system is aging and we need to do this kind of track work," he said.
