Odds aren’t great that Washingtonians will have normal commutes anytime soon.
Those who tried to brave the limited transit service or drive on snow-slicked roads Monday faced long, harried commutes, as transit agencies and transportation departments continued to struggle to clear roads and rails from the weekend’s “Snowmageddon.”
Tuesday’s prognosis also looks grim, with 15 Metro stations remaining closed, and an afternoon storm expected to bring in more paralyzing snow.
What to expect Tuesday
METRO:
Metro plans to resume rail service at all but 15 stations on the Red and Blue lines due to high snow drifts. The stations that will remain closed are Shady Grove, Rockville, Twinbrook, White Flint, Grosvenor-Strathmore, New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U, Rhode Island Ave-Brentwood, Brookland-CUA, Silver Spring and Takoma Metrorail stations on the Red Line plus Benning Road, Capitol Heights, Addison Road-Seat Pleasant, Morgan Boulevard and Largo Town Center Metrorail stationsÊon the Blue Line. Trains will run 30 minutes apart and travel no faster than 35 mph.
Metro plans limited bus operations until the next storm hits.
MetroAccess will run limited service from 8 a.m. until noon.
» Do not rely on Metro’s online trip planner as the system has not been updated with the snow changes. The rail platform signs alerting when trains are arriving also may show inaccurate times.
» NextBus: Because Metrobus routes may be detoured or suspended, use the GPS-driven NextBus service to determine when the next bus is slated to arrive. Visit www.wmata.com/nextbus or call 202-637-7000 and say “NextBus” when the phone picks up.
COMMUTER TRAINS:
» Maryland officials hoped to resume MARC service on all lines under a limited “S” schedule after operating limited service only on the Penn Line Monday.
» Virginia Railway Express planned to announce its Tuesday plans by 4:30 a.m., after canceling all service Monday.
AIRPORTS:
» Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport had all opened at least one runway by Monday with limited flights arriving and departing. But Tuesday’s storm put normal operation into question.
» Those with flights should check with their airlines before heading to the airport.
Work crews and snow removal equipment have been working constantly since Friday, with many crews napping in hotels and airports between long shifts behind plows. The problem, officials say, was that the weekend’s snow was heavy, plentiful and wet — with more than 32 inches falling in some spots.
“We haven’t seen a storm like this is in a long time,” said District Department of Transportation spokesman John Lisle.
Metro continued only limited underground rail service Monday, the third straight day without a complete rail system as the agency struggled to clear snow from its 39 aboveground stations. It planned expanded service for the first part of Tuesday but up to 6-feet drifts have hampered the Red and Blue lines.
“There’s a serious amount of ice building along the third rail,” Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said. “It’s something we just haven’t seen.”
The third rail needs to be deiced, sometimes repeatedly, so electricity can power the trains. Metro doesn’t want trains to stall on the tracks, forcing officials to rescue riders, he said.
And Metro has run into additional problems. The conditions were so cold Sunday that some of the prime mover trucks that Metro relies on to clear snow from the rails froze up and had to be brought in for maintenance, Taubenkibel said. Where trees line the tracks, snow is falling from branches and covering already plowed tracks.
Crews also need to clear the rail yards and all the rail cars parked there. Only 400 of the agency’s more than 1,000 rail cars could be stored underground in tunnels during the snowfall, so the rest need to be dug out just like any vehicle.
Crews also need to clear the rail yards and all the rail cars parked there. Only 400 of the agency’s more than 1,000 rail cars could be stored underground in tunnels during the snowfall, so the rest need to be dug out just like any vehicle.
Metrobus ran a shorter schedule Monday on a handful of routes because of slick road conditions but also because riders would have to wait in the streets for buses. They offered expanded service starting 5 a.m. Tuesday with the caveat that all could change with the afternoon storm.
“We’re not going to put buses out until we believe the road conditions are safe,” Taubenkibel said. “If it can’t be safe, we aren’t going to do it.”
Some local bus agencies offered more service Monday, though. Montgomery’s Ride On bus ran on a limited schedule on all routes, while the D.C. Circulator tried to run its service, as a spokesman said, “as best we can.”
The Circulator offered free rides Monday to encourage people to take the bus rather than drive or walk on snowy streets. But service was spotty. Some of the bus drivers couldn’t get in to work. Then buses ran into slippery conditions, causing some to be rerouted to skip hilly areas such as Wisconsin Avenue on the Georgetown-K Street line. Dropping temperatures threatened night service.
