Thousands of holiday travelers will have to schlep their luggage onto shuttle buses this weekend or find another way to get to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as officials close the airport’s Metro station for track work on the Blue and Yellow lines.
Workers at the transit agency are replacing about one-third of a mile of rail and replacing four switches between the Pentagon City and Braddock Road stations from 9:30 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Tuesday, Metro said.
Metro repairs on the Blue and Yellow lines:
» Replace 2,000 feet of rail.
» Install 735 new ties.
» Replace four switches.
» Perform concrete and deck joint repairs.
» Conduct fire line maintenance.
For more information, www.wmata.com.
» Concrete joint repairs at Reagan National station
Rider tips:
» Give yourself an extra 45 minutes to reach your destination.
» Free shuttle buses will run between the Pentagon Transit Center and the Braddock Road, Franconia-Springfield, Reagan National Airport, Pentagon City and Crystal City stations.
È Metro employees will be stationed between the Pentagon and Franconia-Springfield stations 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday through Monday to help riders navigate around the closures.
The work will cost travelers the use of the Pentagon City, Crystal City and airport stations. While free shuttle buses will be running between them, officials are telling the public to add another 45 minutes to their travel times.
The news is angering riders and officials.
“While I am happy that Metro is making needed infrastructure improvements, the decision to close the National Airport stop over Labor Day weekend — one of the busiest travel weekends of the year — is troubling,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. “But what is truly disturbing is the short notice given to the public. To make this kind of announcement merely three days before a major station closure is unacceptable.”
The Examiner reported last month that Metro was doing the preparation work for the project, then planning to shut down the stations this weekend. Metro had issued an announcement on Aug. 5 and sent out more detailed information this week.
Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said his agency needs the long holiday because the work is intricate.
“It’s more than we can do over a typical, two-day weekend,” he said.
Metro expects travel to be “very light” on Labor Day, Taubenkibel said. Last year, an average of 227,000 riders took Metro each day over the weekend. A typical Saturday sees 330,000 travelers, he said.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokesman Rob Yingling said airlines at the airport are predicting “below normal” travel for the weekend.
AAA Mid-Atlantic predicted that the number of local Labor Day air travelers would drop more than 21 percent from a year ago to about 33,000 fliers, AAA spokesman John Townsend said.
The work is occurring when two of the airport’s main sets of travelers — members of Congress and business travelers — won’t be flying as much.
Metro spokeswoman Angela Gates said she did not know if those groups were a specific factor in the timing of the work. “We try to schedule the track work so it will have the least impact on customers,” she said. “We realize it’s an inconvenience.”
Aside from the June crash that killed nine and wounded dozens more, it’s been a rough summer for Metro: A track worker has been killed, a maintenance contractor electrocuted, a train with too many cars was allowed to operate, customers have been trapped in an elevator, fires have broken out and employees have been fired for a range of improprieties. There have also been a spate of suicides.
Many Web denizens were angry Tuesday that Metro hadn’t given more notice about the shutdowns: Sommer Mathis of DCist.com said the announcement “isn’t likely to earn Metro many new fans.”
Ben Ross, chairman of Transit First, a regional coalition of Metro riders’ groups, said the repairs may be a pain — but they’re better than the alternative.
“The thing has to be maintained to keep it safe,” he said. “You want to do it with as little inconvenience as possible, but you’ve got to do it.”
Staff writer Kytja Weir contributed.
