/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60708559/shutterstock_127965860.0.jpg "Major delays are coming to Metro’s Blue, Orange, and Silver lines for over two weeks 3")
Don’t say they didn’t warn you.
In an advisory released on Wednesday, Metro is advising rail riders to completely avoid the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines from Saturday, Aug. 11 to Sunday, Aug. 26. During that period, crews will be doing “around the clock construction” work to rebuild the track infrastructure between the McPherson Square and Smithsonian stations, Metro says. This is the “tightest curve in the Metrorail system,” according to the transit authority.
The work will require single-track service between those two stations, meaning trains on the Orange and Silver lines will run “every 20 minutes at all times of the day” and trains on the Blue Line won’t run at all in D.C. or Maryland. Metro says Blue Line riders can use the Yellow Line as an alternative to get between Virginia and D.C.
Given the “extensive delays and crowding” the construction will cause, Metro says that “all Orange, Blue and Silver line customers are encouraged to use alternate transportation and to only use Metro if you have no other option.”
Although Metro ridership is usually lower in August than the rest of the year, the work is bound to make an already rough month for commuters even rougher. The repairs on the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines will overlap with the repairs on the Red Line that have closed the Rhode Island Avenue and Brookland stations through Sept. 3 and caused heartburn for thousands of riders.