WMATA and local governments are working to expand alternatives for this summer’s shutdown of Metrorail’s Blue and Yellow lines.

From Memorial Day to Labor Day 2019, six stations in Virginia will be closed for platform reconstruction and other major work. Riders who use Braddock Road, King St-Old Town, Eisenhower Ave, Huntington, Van Dorn St, or Franconia-Springfield must use WMATA’s alternatives or find other ways of commuting. (These same stations were closed over this past weekend.)

The agency estimates the shutdown will impact 17,000 riders—approximately 8 percent of peak weekday riders. Shuttle bus alternatives will carry 60 percent of regular riders, WMATA estimates. So far, these alternatives include free express bus shuttles to the Pentagon station from Franconia-Springfield and Huntington, as well as free local bus shuttles.

To allow faster bus service between Alexandria and the Crystal City and Pentagon City neighborhoods, Northern Virginia is considering improved transit signal priority software, Northern Virginia Transportation Commission documents say. These optimized traffic signals give buses and pedestrians priority over cars.

“NVTC regularly introduces new technologies to its jurisdictions,” Karen Finucan Clarkson, NVTC’s communications and outreach manager, said over email. “There is no guarantee that this will be in place for the summer shutdown, but it is a technology that is being explored.”

In December, WMATA also noted it was working with state and regional representatives on signal prioritization, as well as dedicated bus lanes. NVTC’s March meeting materials, first reported by WTOP, also say that Metro will launch “a special trip planning website” for riders in early March.

“WMATA has developed an alternative trip planner that will alert riders to the various bus options that can get them to their destination or connect them to Metrorail north of the airport,” Northern Virginia Transportation Commission documents said.

NVTC documents also note that the state of Virginia plans to fund “up to 80 percent of local governments’ costs for certain programs meant to reduce traffic during the Metro shutdown.”

Alexandria, Fairfax County, and PRTC OmniRide have all applied for financial support for “additional bus service, money to market the alternatives, and funding for expanded efforts to get people to telework, bike, carpool, take the bus, or flex their hours.”

Alexandria has proposed enhanced water taxi service and improvements to encourage pedestrian and bicycle travel, as well as strategies to improve bus access and circulation, NVTC documents said.

Proposals set to be funded by Virginia will be presented to the Commonwealth Transportation Board later in March.