THE VIEW FROM THE PLATFORM at the Shady Grove station on the Red Line wouldn't give you any hint that something's amiss. But if you look at the platform edge from the trackbed, you'll see the metal jacks pictured here. They tell a different story.
As The Post's Lena H. Sun has noted, Shady Grove is one of 10 aboveground Metrorail stations that's suffering from significant concrete platform deterioration. It would cost about $6 million to make full repairs at each of those stations, but, so far, the transit agency said, there's only been enough money to fix the problems at the Deanwood and Minnesota Avenue stations on the Orange Line. So the temporary bracing pictured above is the only option available to keep the platform structurally sound.
While most commuters aren't going to see the platform problems at aboveground stations, it's not difficult to see that something's awry at Metro Center. This weekend, work crews will begin $1.3 million worth of repairs to deteriorating bearing pads that cushion the 70-foot concrete bridge supporting the trackbed and platforms for the Red Line, which sit a level above the area serviced by Orange Line and Blue Line trains.
At a press gathering this morning, Metro officials pointed out the problems and previewed the work that will be done over the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend and next month's Presidents Day weekend. While Metro Center will remain open to passengers, the repairs will cause big delays for trains heading through the station work zone.
Continue Reading "Across Rail System, Metro Confronts Its Age" »
STARTING SUNDAY, the parking capacity at the Red Line's Shady Grove station will decrease with the start of a major rehabilitation of its south garage.
The work at the garage is expected to be completed in phases, and as the work progresses over the next 18 to 24 months, about 150 to 175 parking spaces will be unavailable. Shady Grove has 5,745 spaces on site.
Metro recommends that commuters consider parking at the Twinbrook or White Flint stations.
FOR THOSE WHO LIVE in Rockville or Alexandria, this could be a messy weekend to take Metrorail. Due to major maintenance projects, there will be delays of up to 40 minutes on parts of the Red and Blue lines this weekend. Ongoing railcar testing on the Green Line will continue with shorter delays.
» RED LINE: Expect delays of up to 40 minutes when traveling between the Shady Grove and Twinbrook stations from 10 p.m. Friday until closing on Sunday. Metro is closing one track to replace about 1,200 feet of fencing along the track right-of-way. Metro will run a shuttle train on one track between the three stations and will also provide shuttle bus service between Shady Grove and Twinbrook every 15 minutes.
» BLUE LINE: There will also be delays of up to 40 minutes between the Franconia-Springfield and King Street stations from 10 p.m. Friday until closing on Sunday. Shuttle trains between the two stations will run on a single track so the transit agency can repair track switches near the Van Dorn Street station. All trains that would normally go to Franconia-Springfield will stop at King Street and then proceed to the Yellow Line terminal at Huntington.
» GREEN LINE: There will be delays of up to 15 minutes between the Greenbelt and College Park stations from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Screen capture from wmata.com
Purple Line Faces At Least a 1 Year Delay
Map It:
Bethesda College Park New Carrollton Shady Grove
Silver Spring
SORRY, PURPLE LINE FANS. Officials from the Maryland Department of Transportation say that because of a flawed study that underestimated projected ridership, the proposed transit link connecting Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park and New Carrollton will be delayed at least a year as the mess is sorted out and the planning project gets back on track.
As The Post's Ovetta Wiggins reports, state Transportation Secretary John Porcari "said he only recently became aware of the projections in the study, which could affect the amount of federal money the projects received." And when you're talking about federal funds "more accurate figures ... may help us to leverage more federal transit dollars," Del. William Bronrott of Montgomery County tells The Post.
Also affected is the Corridor Cities Transitway project, which is slated to connect Clarksburg with the Shady Grove Metrorail station via bus or light rail.
» "Purple Line, Two Other Transit Projects Delayed" [WaPo]
Rendering courtesy MTA
WITH ALL THE HEADLINES devoted to Virginia's problems digging up state funding and the elevated track-or-tunnel debate swirling around the planned Metrorail line through Tysons Corner, it's easy to forget about how divisive the debate in Maryland over the Intercounty Connector really is. The long-planned road project, connecting the Shady Grove Metrorail station and I-270 in Montgomery County with I-95 in Prince George's County, moved forward during the administration of Gov. Robert Ehrlich. Maryland's new governor, Martin O'Malley, has listed the ICC as one of his top priorities, along with transit projects like the Purple Line inside the Capital Beltway.
Although Ehrlich proudly hosted a number of ICC groundbreaking ceremonies last year, the project still faces a pair of environmental lawsuits, among other obstacles.
"This road is not a done deal," said Michael Replogle, the transportation director for Environmental Defense, one of the organizations that says that state and federal agencies failed to properly assess the health and environmental impacts the ICC will have on its right-of-way and the region as a whole.
Last week, Maryland officials announced that they are formally joining the defense of the ICC in the court cases, which are being handled by federal courts in the state and in D.C.
"By intervening in the defense of this suit now, we will occupy a seat at the table as this issue is resolved. We are putting ourselves in the best position possible to help determine a fair and equitable outcome for the citizens of Maryland," acting Transportation Secretary John Porcari said in a statement.
So let's examine the lawsuits, which will be working their way through the courts this year.
FOR SOME RED LINE COMMUTERS — those whose final stops are White Flint, Twinbrook, Rockville or Shady Grove — encountering a train with a final stop at Grosvenor-Strathmore can be frustrating; it means somebody else's wait for a train is over, but theirs isn't.
The thinking behind these Grosvenor turnbacks is that there are more Red Line riders inside the Capital Beltway, rather than beyond it, so there's not as big a need for trains servicing the outer portion of the Red Line. But try telling that to those outer portion commuters, especially the thousands of new residents in the greater Rockville area who use Metrorail.
As part of a Metro pilot program, some of the Grosvenor turnbacks will be eliminated starting this Sunday. The $2.25 million program is being funded by the state of Maryland and will provide full Shady Grove service for all Red Line trains on the weekends and during mid-day weekday periods. That means some relief — at least until the 18-month program ends.
» GET DETAILS ON THIS WEEKEND's Metro track work and service changes after the jump.
LIVING UNDER A "crime emergency" is enough to give District residents who may not normally worry about crime a reason to be concerned. And now from The Post's Allison Klein and Petula Dvorak, we learn that neighborhoods in which crime is less common are seeing an uptick in incidents because criminals increasingly are traveling to these areas to commit crimes. A translation from Metropolitan Police Department Chief Charles Ramsey: they're going where the money is. In particular, there's been a spike in robberies in Shaw, Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights. D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams has flown back to D.C. and vows to take action, while others, from Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., to tourism officials, are worried about the crime spree denting D.C.'s image and economy.
All of this made us want to go to a place no District criminal would ever find us: the Shady Grove terminus of the Red Line in Montgomery County. Yesterday evening around sundown, this is the scene we found: hot and sweaty commuters waiting for buses. Pretty desolate. But as far as we could see, crime-free.
Most of you won't want to go that far (and we were actually out there working on a story), but is the increased focus on crime affecting you? For today's Poll Center question, we ask you a plain and simple yes or no question: Does D.C.'s "crime emergency" make you feel unsafe? Go vote here. You can also a leave your comments on the situation or e-mail them to us.
(Washingtonpost.com has an interesting video in which residents and tourists are asked about their reactions to crime in the city.)
So what else is going on this Thursday, July 13, 2006? Let's get to it.
» CRIME REPORT: Putting D.C.'s "crime emergency" aside for just a moment, a new study by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments shows that serious crime in the overall D.C. area decreased by 4.2 percent in 2005. But WTOP reports that homicides and robberies all actually increased over the same period. [WTOP]
» NEW OPTION: As plans for the proposed National Capital Medical Center remain in limbo, a task force called by Mayor Anthony Williams has suggested a new proposal to improve access to health care for the District's eastern wards: Instead of building a new hospital on the grounds of the former D.C. General hospital, the District should fund three state-of-the-art clinics, plus improvements to Greater Southeast Community Hospital, The Post's Susan Levine reports. [WaPo]
» TAXI STRIKE? Apparently, the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles never noticed that in 2001 a law had passed requiring cab drivers who work in the District to live in the District. Now that an internal review spotted the regulation, D.C. cabbies are peeved and may "shut this city down," according to a spokesman for the D.C. Professional Taxicab Drivers Association. Such a strike could come as early as next week unless officials back down from enforcing the law, the Examiner's Mike Rupert reports.
» MORE LOCAL NEWS, as always, is available from washingtonpost.com and Washington Post Radio.
Photo by Michael Grass/Express
Yellow Line to Be Extended in Pilot Program
Map It: Columbia Heights Fort Totten Georgia Ave-Petworth Grosvenor Mt Vernon Square Rockville Shady Grove Shaw-Howard U Twinbrook U Street-Cardozo White Flint
WHAT A DIFFERENCE a change in leadership can make. If you remember last fall, Metro's then-chief executive, Richard White, was very much against any sort of extension of the Yellow Line from its terminus at the Mount Vernon Square-7th St.-Convention Center station through the Green Line's rapidly developing Mid-City corridor to Fort Totten. 
That was despite calls from residents in the U Street and Columbia Heightsneighborhoods. Mr. White's response, via a DCist post last November:
Such an extension of service would be exceedingly expensive, both from an operating cost perspective, as well as from a capital cost perspective. An additional 8 trains would be required to extend the Yellow Line. At 6 cars per train, the additional 48 cars plus spares would exceed 100 million dollars.Flash forward to today's Metro Board meeting with Metro's new interim general manager, Dan Tangherlini. Voila! As part of an 18-month pilot study starting in January, the Yellow Line will run during weekday off-peak and weekend hours all the way from its Virginia terminus at Huntington to Fort Totten in the District, increasing the number of trains serving the Georgia Ave.-Petworth, Columbia Heights, U St.-Cardozo and Shaw-Howard University stations -- at a frequency of every 7 1/2 to 10 minutes.
Continue Reading "Yellow Line to Be Extended in Pilot Program" »
Addison Road