Martin Austermuhle
Word is leaking out — Metro’s Yellow Line will extend its runs to the Ft. Totten station during off-peak hours starting in January 2007. In a letter to his constituents, Council-member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who had long pushed for the idea, wrote:
The WMATA board has given the green light to extending the Yellow Line to Fort Totten during off-peak periods. As a voting member, I proposed this extension. It would double the number of weekend and evening trains available at the Shaw/Howard University, U Street, Columbia Heights and Georgia Avenue/Petworth stations on the Green Line — beginning in January 2007. This service addition is very important and comes at a relatively low cost. We get a lot of bang for our Metro bucks. Extending the Yellow Line will mean a new connection to the Red Line at Fort Totten, a new direct route to National Airport, new service to the retail center in Columbia Heights, and a new means of getting to Ward One entertainment.
The Yellow Line originally ended its run at the Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center station, though residents of Green Line stations further north long complained of long off-peak waits for trains. Earlier this year a variety of options were considered for extending the Yellow Line, from taking it all the way to Greenbelt to having some Blue Line trains redirected up the Green Line. The chosen extension is estimated to cost $1.25 million in capital costs and $3 million in annual operating costs.
