Metro on Tuesday said the Yellow Line will reopen at 7 a.m. on May 7.
The Yellow Line has been closed since September for construction work to repair the decades-old bridge and tunnel between the Pentagon and L’Enfant Plaza.
Without the rail line, commuters from the Pentagon and Crystal City areas, as well as Alexandria, have had to take the Blue Line and enter DC through Foggy Bottom, a process that Metro estimates added an extra 15 minutes each way.
Trains between Huntington and Mount Vernon Square will run every eight minutes on weekdays, and every 12 minutes after 9:30 p.m. and on weekends, Metro said.
Metro added that on May 7 it would discontinue the “Blue+” service, which has run between Huntington and New Carrollton. The shuttle routes between Crystal City and L’Enfant Plaza, and between Pentagon and Archives also will end.
“I want to thank our customers for their patience while we completed this critical work to ensure safe, reliable service for decades to come,” said Randy Clarke, Metro’s general manager and chief executive officer, in a news 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.”
More downtown service
Metro also said the proposed budget for fiscal 2024 includes a proposal to end the Yellow Line at Mount Vernon Square, so as to increase the frequency of trains through the downtown area. Riders would change to the Green Line at Mount Vernon Square to continue northeast toward Greenbelt.
Both the Green and Yellow line trains would run every six minutes under the plan, Metro said. “Customers at the busiest stations in the downtown core service area could catch a train every three minutes, reducing wait times by up to 50 percent,” Metro said.
The budget plan would eliminate peak and off-peak pricing on weekdays before 9:30 p.m., lower the base fare from $2.25 to $2, raise the maximum fare from $6 to $6.50, and more. You can read the budget proposal on Metro’s website.
Featured image courtesy WMATA
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