A local transit advocacy group is calling on Metro to postpone weekend track work that will snarl the Red, Green and Yellow lines as a high-profile baseball game and hockey playoff game scheduled for the same time are expected to attract massive crowds.
The Action Committee for Transit wrote a letter to Metro General Manager Richard Sarles on Tuesday saying it was “deeply concerned,” after The Washington Examiner reported the agency was not planning to change its track work plans.
“No transportation agency in this area would inconvenience drivers in a similar way for non-emergency maintenance,” ACT president Tina Slater wrote. “Even with the current stretched budgets, highway departments go to great expense to minimize traffic delays during construction. Transit riders deserve the same consideration.”
The Washington Capitals are slated to play the New York Rangers in Game 4 of the playoffs starting at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, while just 25 minutes later the Nationals will take the field against the Phillies.
The venues for the games are most easily accessed by Metro’s Green, Yellow and Red lines at the Gallery Place, Judiciary Square and Navy Yard stops.
But the agency is planning a shutdown on the Green Line, which also will affect the Yellow Line. It is planning to force Red Line trains to share a single track in two popular segments. Work is also planned for a segment of the Blue and Orange lines.
“With trains running only once every 24 minutes on most of the Red Line, and four stations shut on the Green Line, the system will not be able to meet the need for its services,” Slater wrote.
