Results tagged “enfantplaza”

The rush to get out of D.C. to family Thanksgiving celebrations has already begun, but if you're still reading DCist, you're probably still at work and planning on leaving within the next 72 hours. Whether opening up that military airspace will really make a difference at Washington area airports remains to be seen, but WMATA has announced a special Thanksgiving weekend schedule that could stand to help out many of you trying to take public...

Written by DCist contributor Morgan Hargrave Museum exhibits are usually necessarily limited in focus, attempting depth rather than breadth. The few that are not so restrained tend to overwhelm their patrons, losing them in an ambush of Too Much Information. Yet the National Museum of the American Indian has managed to avoid this pitfall in three exhibits that aim to define the entire histories, cultures, and guiding philosophies of indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere....

If you're heading to any Yellow line destinations this weekend, including National Airport, you should make alternate plans. Metro is shutting down the Yellow line rail bridge over the Potomac River this weekend to do track maintenance and conduct an annual bridge inspection. The closure begins tonight at 10 p.m. and lasts through Sunday at midnight. Directions from WMATA: When a Yellow Line train arrives at the King Street Metrorail station, passengers must transfer to...

Via this morning's Examiner, the city is focusing on strategies to reduce the traffic impact of the new baseball stadium when it opens next April. One of the considered options is a reduced "ballpark fare" to try and entice more people to take transit. While reducing the amount of cars and congestion on game days is a certainly a crucial goal, the reduced fare doesn't necessarily seem like it would make much of a difference....

Tomorrow morning marks the annual running of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The race, which takes place on the National Mall, begins at 8 a.m., with several pre-race events as well. To accommodate the 50,000 people expected to participate, Metro will begin operating two hours early, at 5 a.m., with trains running every 12 minutes from the end of each line. Metro has not scheduled any track maintenance during the day on...

>> Four suspicious packages discovered near L'Enfant Plaza, which led to the closure of Independence Avenue between 7th and 12th streets and the evacuation of some buildings in southwest D.C. this morning, were determined to be non-threatening. [NBC4] >> D.C. firefighters were called to the scene of an apparent spill of a toxic industrial floor stripper inside a building in the 2400 block of 17th St. NW. The building was evacuated and about 50...

They have a saying in Paris that describes the fast pace of life in that city: Métro, boulot, dodo, meaning that life consists only of an endless repetition of subway rides, work, and sleep. Life in Washington is harried, too, but sometimes you need to stop as you dash through the L'Enfant Plaza station at rush hour on a Friday in January. Who is playing the famous Chaconne from Bach's D minor partita so well...

For a while there, the folks at Metro were using the tagline, "Metro Opens Doors" to market all the transit services they offered. While that particular slogan seems to have fallen by the wayside, this afternoon gives us the opportunity to resurrect it, if slightly altered: Metro Opens Baseball Season. Baseball fans across the city will be ditching work early and heading over to RFK for the Washington Nationals' home opener, at 1 p.m against...

Here at Transit on Thursday, we love giving good news, and we've got some for you today. New rail cars! Also this week, Governor Kaine works to rile up support for changes to Republican transportation legislation. Finally, maintenance and rail car testing will cause some delays on the Red, Yellow and Green Lines this weekend. Also, MetroAccess is now offering eAlerts with information on major service disruptions due to inclement weather and other emergencies....

If Alexandria officials are to be believed there has already been some impressive upside to their recruitment of the Patent and Trademark Office from the canyons of Crystal City to Carlyle, a neighborhood west of Old Town and north of the Capital Beltway. "We are now the intellectual capital of the world,'' says Stephanie Landrum, acting executive director of Alexandria's economic development office, according to the Washington Post. In addition to the over 7,000 employees...

Though we often sing the praises of public transit, there's usually not anything fun about jumping on the Metro at rush hour to get to work. It's crowded, people are surly, and you inevtitably engage in that awkward two-step dance to get around the one commuter that has decided they're going to occupy the middle of the aisle, everyone else be damned. But now and then something breaks up the daily monotony of Metro commutes...

The Washington Post reports what some of you who've been out using Metro today may have already heard: six-car train on the Green Line derailed just before 4 p.m. this afternoon near the Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center stop, injuring 20 people, one of those seriously. The Associated Press has more, describing the 45-minute wait approximately 60 people had before being reached by fire crews and helped out of the tunnel. This from AP:The accident happened...

Even if today becomes the commuter apocalypse being predicted, at least the heavens won't open up and swallow you whole. After yesterday's violent storms, D.C. can expect a balmy 63 degrees and partly-cloudy skies to ease you into the weekend. So roll up your sleeves and get ready for some fun. Freaky (Freight) Friday: Are you one of the thousands of people are stranded this morning due to the Thursday night derailment of a freight...

It is an unfortunate reality for metro area residents that the transportation projects that can make or break their commute often live and die by the politicians who are elected to office. With Election 2006 dominating the news, here's a selection of transportation-related items from your friendly neighborhood candidates. Also, changes to Metro's weekend service. Photo by xtol7...

An alert tipster brings us news that WMATA officials are poised to consider whether some of the Metro systems shorter escalators should be converted into stairs. The proposal on the table would call for the decommissioning of 23 escalators in order to save approximately $1.2 million in maintenance costs. According to WTOP, none of the escalators in question exceed thirty feet in height and are all units that provide redundant service at their individual stations....

And a happy Friday morning to you, Washington. Heads up: Metro's Yellow Line from King Street to Mt. Vernon Square will not be running this weekend due to track maintenance starting tonight at 10 p.m. Folks will be forced off at King Street, and those going between Mt. Vernon Square and L'Enfant Plaza will be forced to ride the Green Line. Things are expected to be running back on schedule by Monday morning. Large Part...

Being a tourist is all about surprises. The excitement of seeing things you've only read about, like historic buildings and imposing monuments. The stimulation of learning about local culture and tradition. The fun of discovering a region's dining options and watering holes. Perhaps it all comes down to how you define "fun." Quote of the Week Connecticut Avenue, walking towards Dupont Circle: Elderly Man: "I'm starving." Elderly Woman: "I'm sure we'll find someplace to...

Today is a good day. The sun is shining; the air is dry. For many, it is the Friday of a short work week. For others, it is a day to call in sick and sleep off that tenth Pabst at last night’s Butterstick birthday bash. But some people have their own idea of what constitutes a good day -- and they’re not afraid to let other people know. Quote of the Week Fair Lakes...

Today Curbed clued us into the many rivalries that exist in New York City, from the basic Manhattan vs. Brooklyn to the L train vs. the F train. This got us to thinking -- what rivalries exist in the Washington area? What really provokes heated debates? What, when mentioned on DCist, yields a flood of comments both pro and con? Today we present some of the basic rivalries that keep things interesting. Of course, this...

MONDAY >> You scream, I scream, we all scream for British and 70s-inspired rock. Double your pleasure tonight at the Black Cat, as The Points (Fredericksburg's answer to Kings of Leon) and The Cuts (think The Cure meets The Thrills) work the back stage. $7, 9 p.m. >> We caught The Parachute Musical a while ago, opening for Deleted Scenes (who you may have seen at last week's Unbuckled). They turn out impressive piano pop,...

Arguments over where to put new monuments on the National Mall have grown increasingly frequent and divisive as the front lawn has filled up. In 2003, Congress banned new construction on the Mall's cross-axis, beyond what had already been approved. In 2004, the National Museum of the American Indian and the World War II Memorial opened, and recently, a trapezoidal spot just northeast of the Washington Monument was chosen as the location for the National...

Written by DCist contributor Colin Peppard In the third installment of our ongoing feature to highlight the many things our Metro system could use, we turn to our beloved Nationals and the trains that get us to the game. Evening baseball games and rush hour don't mix terribly well. As fans flood the District to cheer the Nats on, commuters are just trying to get home for dinner. Area highways, local roads near RFK,...

It's another light week here at Overheard in DC headquarters, so we'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that holidays revolving around the consumption of alcohol can make for some very amusing eavesdropping. So, keep your ears open today, and next week we can discover whether green beer makes people even more stupid than regular beer. Of course, this is what is likely to be overheard at Irish Times this afternoon: Person #1:...

Since late last month, when the idea of the extending the Yellow Line beyond its terminus at Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center was formally introduced to the public, moves have been made that might finally make the extension a reality. Council-member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), assured residents attending the Cardozo-Shaw Neighborhood Association meeting last night that he believes he will be able to secure funding to extend the Yellow Line to Ft. Totten beginning as early...

It's not saying much when the part of the city named after the very person who designed the city just plain sucks. DCist has yet to find anyone who has any love for L'Enfant Plaza, that wasteland of urban design in Southwest where bad architecture and concrete have historically gone to die. But now the city may want to spruce the place up a little, make it a little less, well, crappy. According to an...

Yeah, so it used to be "Transit on Thursday." In the midst of some monumental changes here at DCist, we took the radical step of moving the column up two days. Hell, we may even have it twice a week, if enough transit-related news should warrant it. Anyhow, consider this your one-stop shopping for news related to getting around town, though we will leave the on-time traffic reporting to Michelle Sigona of Fox 5...

President Bush in his most recent State of the Union address said that he wanted to support the development of an "ownership society" where every American stands to benefit from the pride of owning something, whether it be a strong investment portfolio or a ranch with lots of brush to clear. In New York, D.C., and elsewhere, this ownership society includes the giant real estate conglomerates that hold a great deal of power in how...

In advance of Earth Day on Friday, the District today kicks off its Green Week DC today with Environment and Community Day on Freedom Plaza from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday is Holistic Energy Day at the Reeves Municipal Center at 14th and U streets NW where you'll be able learn more about renewable energy and see GM hydrogen vehicles. Although pretty much a concrete courtyard, Nassif Plaza at the U.S. Department of Transportation...

While everyone seemed to enjoy what was going on inside RFK Stadium for the Nationals opening day goings on, there was much strife outside (and we aren't talking about the stadium funding/voting rights protests). As if getting into the stadium wasn't difficult enough (as you can see from this photo from Catherine Andrews' Flickr photostream), getting to the stadium campus itself was a struggle. As has been reported by the Post, metrorail was packed to...

(Flickr photo of No. 54 metrobus at the Archives-Navy Mem'l-Penn Quarter station by FurCafe via DCist Photos) >> In case you've been living under a rock, today is opening day for the city's new baseball team, the Washington Nationals. And WMATA says it's ready to handle the crowds on metrorail. Rush-hour service will start at 3 p.m. and will run until the first pitch a little after 7 p.m. Expect the Blue and Orange...