Another holiday weekend, another total mess on Metro revolving around fixing the sagging platforms at Metro Center. WMATA is alerting customers to add an additional 30 minutes of travel time to every trip on the Red, Blue and Orange lines this weekend due to the Metro Center platform work.

As you may recall from the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend, this means all Red line trains will share one track between the Farragut North and Judiciary Square stations, and all Blue and Orange line trains will share one track between the Farragut West and Smithsonian stations. Translation: you’ll be standing around waiting for a good long time.

The work and altered schedule begins tonight at 10 p.m., and lasts through Monday, February 18 at midnight. Metro is strongly encouraging customers to build in lots of extra travel time, or to take alternate transportation. Also note that due to the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday, Metro will be operating on a modified Saturday holiday schedule that day, opening at 5 a.m. and closing at midnight. Metrobuses will operate on a normal weekday schedule.

Photo by Grundlepuck