Weekend Road and Rail: Metro works on all lines with shutdowns on 3; work on the Beltway, I-66 and DC ruled by rain

This weekend there is rain in the forecast, which means some of the work zones are subject to change.

There is scheduled work continuously during off-peak hours at three locations on the Capital Beltway in Maryland.

In the District, the South Capitol Street shift is ongoing. There’s an ongoing transformation of I-66 in Virginia.

And Metro has some work scheduled for all lines with shutdowns on three of them this weekend.

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Roadwork

Virginia

Moving into this weekend we will see rare active daytime closures for the I-66 Transforms Outside the Beltway Project, as VDOT has plans to close and detour the ramp from Route 50 westbound to I-66 westbound ramp for paving.

Beginning Saturday morning on or about 9 a.m., weather permitting, crews will close the ramp and begin detouring all traffic farther west to Route 608/West Ox Road south to make a U-turn and follow signs toward I-66 West.

Detour for Route 50 ramp closure farther west to Route 608 (West Ox Road) South, stay to the right for Route 50 East, then follow signs to I-66 West. (Courtesy VDOT)

With a reminder that all work is weather dependent and subject to change, there is another overnight scheduled work zone with full stops implemented for Route 50 at I-66 for overhead bridge work.

This bridge beam installation project has been rescheduled a few times already due to our prolific winter season. But we will refresh the docket again this week for the work overnights between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., which is scheduled to continue into 6 a.m. on Saturday morning.

In Fairfax, there is and ongoing demolition project to a portion of the old Waples Mill Road Bridge over I-66. This work does require overnight lane closures on I-66 between Jermantown Road and Monument Drive nightly. Through this week and into the weekend there are scheduled overnight closures for demolition and traffic impacts can be anticipated through early March.

The Waples Mill Road Bridge over I-66 is being rebuilt as part of the Transform 66 Outside the Beltway Project. What to expect for the nightly closures are as follows:

I-66 is reduced to one travel lane approaching Waples Mill Road between 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
There will be periodic full stops of up to 20 minutes between midnight and 4 a.m.
All lanes this weekend are scheduled to reopen by 9 a.m.

During this time, Waples Mill Road traffic will also be reduced to a single lane between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

As always, VDOT does stress that drivers traveling on I-66 during this time can expect delays and consider using alternate routes.

Also there continues to be nightly work at the Route 50/I-66 Interchange in Fairfax, which has been scheduled to continue nightly into next week.

At this work zone, crews close the ramp from I-66 eastbound to westbound Route 50 for bridge beam installation, which requires lane closures and full stops of Route 50 westbound at I-66.

Route 50 is reduced to one lane of travel with stops of 20 minutes at a time likely between 11 p.m. and 5:30 a.m.

This work is being scheduled into Saturday morning and will continue again overnight Sunday with plans to continue overnights into next week.

With the ramp closure, traffic is detoured to make a U-turn from the left-most turn lane at the Waples Mill Road, (Courtesy VDOT)

As these work zones are ever-changing between the Beltway and Gainesville, and with weather disrupting many planned events, a lot of changes can happen during off-peak hours.

Be sure to tune into WTOP News and traffic on the 8s for the latest. And, if you’re experiencing something that we’re not reporting, please be part of the process and give us a call at 866-304-WTOP.

Maryland

This weekend is showing no report of big new projects, so we’ll touch base on a few of the long-term work zones that are continuing during off-peak hours. The Maryland State Highway Administration, MDOT SHA, has been committed to a rehabilitation project of I-270.

This does show up in various locations with lane and ramp closures overnights and weekends.

In Frederick, I-270 southbound the exit ramp to northbound MD-85, and in turn the northbound MD-85/Buckeystown Pike ramp to southbound I-270 do close overnights for pipe installation.

This work continues Sunday through Friday, weather permitting for the winter season. Also, the I-270 southbound ramps from MD-121 and MD-109 continue to see the acceleration lane expansion project closing or reducing lanes during off-peak times, which is scheduled through the summer.

In St. Mary’s Country, MD-5 between Abell/Moakley Streets and MD-245 Hollywood Road has been seeing daytime single lane closures for a rehabilitation project between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

But the big story by far from MDOT SHA is their bridge rehabilitation zones and resurfacing projects on I-495/Capital Beltway, which continues overnights and weekends weather permitting.

For bridge rehabilitation there are two locations. First, the Beltway’s bridge over the Suitland Parkway, which is in desperate need of repair, has seen lanes reduced to at times only one available during nights and weekends.

The work can be seen on both sides of the Beltway anywhere between MD-4/Pennsylvania Avenue and the Allentown Road/Joint Base Andrews exits weather permitting.

The second bridge project has been at Seminary Road, just to the west of Georgia Avenue, which sees Inner and Outer loop lane closures between Georgia and Connecticut Avenues and off-peak full stops.

Here too, at times there could only be a single lane of travel with delays possible overnights and weekends.

The resurfacing project on the Beltway, also in Montgomery Country, is being permitted overnights, seven days a week on the Outer Loop between Connecticut Avenue to just beyond the I-270 Spur merge.

Crews here have been reducing travel by one to two lanes, which is likely to continue through March.

There is a fairly new bridge project on I-70 over the Patapsco River between US-29 and I-695. Crews here will be working this weekend on Saturday with lanes reduced between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., motorist should expect delay.

D.C.

This week the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) launched a new bridge preservation project on New York Avenue on the railroad bridge, which is located between 9th Street and Florida Avenue, NE. This work, which started on Tuesday, is scheduled to reduce lanes into Saturday.

DDOT also has the I-295/DC-295 closing ramps, lanes and roadway changes through this weekend. There continues to be lanes close along South Capitol Street between Firth Sterling and the Suitland Parkway with full roadway closures and detours during the overnight hours.

This work also closes ramps from I-295 to South Capitol Street and from MLK Jr. Avenue to I-295 continuously.

This week saw DDOT implement a new westbound closure of Howard Road daily between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The detour for this closure using Firth Sterling Avenue SE between South Capitol Street SE and St. Elizabeths Avenue SE. (Courtesy DDOT)

Firth Sterling has also been closed nightly with a more extensive detour as shown here. (Courtesy of DDOT)

South Capitol Street northbound will be closed and detoured this weekend as part of this project.

Northbound South Capitol Street SE closed between Firth Sterling Avenue SE and Suitland Parkway SE. (Courtesy of DDOT)

Metro

This weekend will see shutdowns on three lines. The ongoing platform project continues to see no Blue Line services due to closures of the Arlington National Cemetery (Blue Line) and the Addison Road (Blue and Silver) stations through May 23.

And due to a switch replacement, the Red Line will see a shutdown between Dupont Circle and Friendship Heights with the Woodley Park, Cleveland Park, Van Ness and Tenleytown stations.

There will also be preventive maintenance being performed seeing late night single tracking on the Red, Orange, Silver, Green and Yellow lines for cable replacements, fire systems upgrades and grout pad rehabilitation.

Metrorail operates on normal weekend hours from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Sunday serving 85 of 91 stations with service adjustments.

Weekend service summary:

Red Line: trains every 12-15 minutes with switch replacements operating in two segments between Shady Grove and Friendship Heights and Dupont Circle to Glenmont.
Woodley Park, Cleveland Park, Van Ness and Tenleytown stations closed.
Free buses replacing trains.

Blue Line: No service.

Arlington Cemetery, Addison Rd stations closed; free shuttles provided.
Franconia-Springfield and Van Dorn St. stations served by additional Yellow Line trains operating between Franconia-Springfield and National Airport.
Travelers to/from Virginia and D.C. via Yellow Line may transfer at King St-Old Town, Braddock Rd or National Airport.

Orange Line: trains every 15-20 minutes.

After 8 p.m. Sunday, trains single track between Foggy Bottom and Clarendon.
Trains will operate every 30 minutes.

Silver Line: trains every 15-20 minutes.

Addison Rd station closed.
Free shuttles between Capitol Heights and Addison Rd.

Yellow Line: trains every 15-20 minutes in two segments, between Huntington to Greenbelt and Franconia-Springfield to Braddock Rd.

Single tracking between Pentagon City and Reagan National Airport.
After 10 p.m., single tracking between Fort Totten and Prince George’s Plaza.

Green Line: trains very 15-20 minutes

After 10 p.m., single tracking between Fort Totten and Prince George’s Plaza.

For your safety and the safety of others, customers are required to wear cloth face coverings or masks while traveling on Metro.