Metro is undertaking a major rehabilitation project that will shut down direct Blue and Yellow Line service to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport from the south on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
Metro workers are scheduled to overhaul the tracks between the Braddock Road and National Airport Metro stations on Labor Day weekend, beginning at 9 p.m. Friday and ending at 4 a.m. Tuesday.
Metro officials said passengers in that area should build 30 extra minutes into their travel plans to allow for shuttle service between the two stations.
While Metro frequently completes such projects during a series of short nightly bursts when the system is closed, doing the work over an uninterrupted three-day period greatly increases efficiency and reduces costs, officials said.
Keeping one track open while employees work on the other track is not an option for the project because the tracks are too close together in that area, Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.
The project was prompted by a need to replace the cross ties — or wooden slats on which the rails rest — along that stretch of track, he said.
The current cross ties are the original ones from 1980, when that section of Metrorail was built.
Metro will simultaneously replace other aging infrastructure along the 2,600-foot stretch, including 3,200 feet of track and 300 tons of stone ballast.
The transit agency is not scheduled to complete any other track overhauls this year that will require track shutdowns in both directions, but Metro is scheduled to close the Yellow Line bridge between the L’Enfant Plaza and Pentagon stations the weekend of Sept. 12 to undertake an annual bridge inspection.
A track overhaul is scheduled for the area between the West Falls Church and Vienna Orange Line stations next month, but Metro will use late-night single-tracking to complete that project and will not shut that section down over the weekend, Taubenkibel said.
