As summer comes to an end, the 8th and 9th “safety surges” of the year long SafeTrack initiative begins. From August 27th to September 11th, there will be a continuous single track and weekend line segment shutdowns for the Blue and Yellow line, between Franconia-Springfield and Van Dorn Street. Other closures and construction include the 42 day project on the Orange line, from Vienna to West Falls Church. This will last from September 15th to October 26th.
These “safety surges” are only some of a total of 15 different surges. The information for the final six surges is unavailable currently, but WMATA believes they will have a revised schedule by mid-September. Some of these will include a complete line segment shutdown from Fort Totten to NoMa, on the Red line, a line segment shut down from Rosslyn to Pentagon on the Blue line, and continuous single tracking on the Orange and Silver lines between East and West Falls Church.
Currently, there is no service at the Franconia-Springfield and Van Dorn Street stations between the dates of September 3rd through 5th, and no service at the Franconia-Springfield station between the dates of September 10th through 11th. From September 24th-25th, October 1st-2nd, October 8th-9th, and October 15th-16th, there will be no service at Vienna, Dunn Loring and West Falls Church stations. Information for the 10th segment shut downs are not available currently.
To help figure out ways to plan trips based on the SafeTrack schedule, apps like Transit and DC Metro Transit give local times for trains, busses, Uber, Capital Bikeshare bikes, and car2go. These accumulate timing based on location, and work in Maryland also. TripGo and RideDC Trip Planner also feature transit options based around the city. All of these apps are available on IOS and Android.
With SafeTrack a little under halfway over, commuters in DC must get a little bit creative when figuring out the best way to get to work, school, or home. Be sure to continue to check the WMATA website for information, and don’t get caught in an unexpected “safety surge”!
