Metro riders will face long delays and detours this Columbus Day weekend, as a slew of station closures and track repair projects are scheduled to slow passenger commutes on the Blue, Orange, Red and Yellow lines.
The most significant work will take place on the Blue and Orange lines, where Metro officials plan to shut down the Farragut West, McPherson Square and Metro Center stations. Metro Center will remain open for Red Line passengers only.
The closures will begin at 9:30 p.m. Friday. Free shuttle buses will transport passengers around the closures, and are scheduled to run every 12 to 15 minutes during the day, and every 20 minutes at night.
In addition to free shuttles, every other Blue Line train leaving the Franconia-Springfield station will detour from its usual route at Pentagon Station, and will follow the Yellow Line tracks across the Potomac River to L’Enfant Plaza. Those trains will terminate at Mt Vernon Sq/7th St-Convention Center Station.
All stations are scheduled to reopen for regular service Tuesday morning.
Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said Metro passengers should add 40 minutes to their usual travel times.
“The waits for shuttle buses will be long due to downtown traffic patterns, especially on Monday,” Taubenkibel said.
Federal government employees will be off work Monday for the Columbus Day holiday, but plenty of people will be making their usual weekday commutes, congesting downtown roadways. Taubenkibel said the location of the station closures would also present new challenges for Metro workers and riders.
“A lot of our track work up until now has been on the outside portion of the system where we can bring our buses into train station bus bays,” he said. “Downtown is different. Our shuttle buses will be sharing the streets with a lot of other vehicles, so there will be major delays.”
Platform and landscape repairs will also extend ride times for Red and Yellow line riders all weekend. Passenger traveling on the Red Line can expect 30-minute delays between Shady Grove and Twinbrook. Yellow Line riders between Huntington and Braddock Road will face similar slowdowns.
