Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority officials are reopening the Yellow Line after eight months of construction, shortening travel time for Metro riders across the Potomac River by nearly 15 minutes.
WMATA officials announced in a release Tuesday that the Yellow Line, which extends from Huntington station in Virginia through Gallery Place station in D.C. to Greenbelt station in Maryland, will fully reopen May 7 at 7 a.m. Construction crews have been working since Sep. 10 to upgrade the southern Yellow Line’s aging infrastructure by replacing expansion joints, bridge bearings and steel plates on the line’s bridge and tunnel across the Potomac, according to the release.
“I want to thank our customers for their patience while we completed this critical work to ensure safe, reliable service for decades to come,” Metro General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke said in the release. “I’m also very proud and thankful to the dedicated women and men who worked to deliver this complex project on schedule and on budget.”
The release states that WMATA officials said they will cease Metro shuttle routes between Crystal City and L’Enfant Plaza as well as Pentagon and Archives upon the Yellow Line’s reopening in May.
Since Sep. 10, officials have suspended Metro service between Pentagon and L’Enfant stations due to maintenance of the Yellow Line bridge and tunnel across the Potomac. Officials shut down Metro service south of Ronald Reagan National Airport station because of Yellow Line construction between Sep. 10 and Nov. 6.
WMATA officials said construction crews replaced more than 1,000 steel plates in the Yellow Line tunnel and installed 88 bearings and a new fire suppression system on the line’s bridge since work began in September, according to the release.
The Yellow Line bridge and tunnel were both constructed in the 1970s. WMATA officials estimate the bridge’s maintenance could extend its functionality by over 30 years.
WMATA officials said Yellow Line construction has forced Metro riders to exclusively use the Blue Line to travel across the Potomac, causing up to 15 minutes in delays.
Train delays due to Yellow Line construction followed delays of up to 30 minutes from October 2021 to June 2022 when all 7000-series trains, 60 percent of Metro’s total rail fleet, were pulled from service following a derailment on the Blue Line near Arlington Cemetery. WMATA officials returned eight 7000-series trains to circulation last June, allowing the entire fleet to operate in October.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser included allocations in her Fiscal Year 2024 budget proposal to further increase service to the Yellow Line by turning trains back at Mt. Vernon Square station, one station north of Gallery Place station, according to the release. The changes would allow trains between Huntington and Mt. Vernon Square stations to operate every six minutes.
