In case you missed it: Metro will completely close access to the Foggy Bottom Metro station over the upcoming three-day Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday weekend, creating a segmented Orange and Blue Line. The closure will go into effect at 10 p.m. on Friday, January 14 and end at 5 p.m. on Monday, January 18. The closure is in effect so that WMATA can undertake significant maintenance work recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board, including the replacement of four track switches, escalator and elevator repairs and the installation of cellular reception infrastructure. It’s the first of several similar station closures which WMATA will conduct this year.
As they had warned last year, the WMATA Board of Directors affirmed today that three-day weekends in 2011 are going to be rather disruptive. During a meeting this morning, the board indicated that 2011’s maintenance schedule “will be the most aggressive in agency’s history,” and three-day weekends are slated to be a huge part of that. Some of the three-day disruptions will be to enable construction on the Silver Line expansion to Dulles International Airport, but most of it is due to the fact that, by shutting down one or several stations over a weekend, Metro can accomplish the same amount of work as they can over several weekends of single-tracking.
In addition to this weekend’s work, you can note the following shutdowns in your 2011 calendar, Metro riders:
- Presidents Day (February 18-21): Federal Triangle and Smithsonian
- Memorial Day (May 27-30): Eastern Market
- Labor Day (September 2-5): Franconia-Springfield and Van Dorn Street
- Columbus Day (October 7-10): U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo
- Veterans Day (November 10-13): Anacostia and Navy Yard
Getting back to this weekend’s disruption: you’re not going to be able to use the Blue or Orange Lines to get into downtown D.C. from northern Virginia and vice versa.
