Metro Center Work to Cause Big Weekend Delays

Map It:  Metro Center 

IF YOU STAND ON the Red Line's Shady Grove-bound platform at the busy Metro Center station, you'll notice a section of the platform that's slightly depressed and marked off with striped warning tape. The area in question sits at a point where the Red Line track and platform cross over the Blue and Orange lines on the lower level — and it's a bridge that's slowly sagging.

There's no immediate cause for alarm, Metro says, but this weekend, the transit agency will start $1.3 million worth of structural improvements to correct the problem. And as The Post's Get There blog reports, the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend will be a slow go for many Metrorail riders starting Friday at 10 p.m.

Trains on the Red Line will share the same track between the Farragut North and Judiciary Square stations, while trains on the Blue and Orange lines will share a track between the Smithsonian and Farragut West stations. Trains will run through the work zone every 18 minutes, and chances are, you'll wait at least six minutes for trains coming in the opposite direction to clear the Metro Center work zone. Overall, there will be fewer trains in service on the Red, Blue and Orange lines, so expect delays and crowded trains.

For the full details, click here.

The service pattern will return over the three-day Presidents Day weekend next month. Pair that with the ongoing weekend track work near the Medical Center station, and it adds up to a series of delays for weekend riders on the Red Line for the next month or so.

» "Major Rehab at Metro Center" [Get There/WaPo]
» "Expect Delays Over Martin Luther King, Jr. and Presidents Day Weekends" [WMATA]
» EARLIER: "Major Weekend Track Work to Slow Red Line" [Free Ride/Express]

Map courtesy WMATA