Red Line shutdown this weekend, events block streets

The Red Line will be shut down Saturday and Sunday between Friendship Heights and Grosvenor-Strathmore.

“Punch list” work on the sealant Metro put around the tunnel near Medical Center as part of efforts to keep water out means Bethesda and Medical Center stations will be closed. Shuttle buses are scheduled between Grosvenor-Strathmore, Medical Center, Bethesda and Friendship Heights.

Elsewhere on the Red Line, trains are scheduled every eight minutes until 9:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and every 15 minutes after 9:30 p.m.

There is no track work scheduled on other lines.

On the roads, numerous construction lane closures are planned across the D.C. region, and road races or other events block traffic in some areas.

In Frederick, Maryland, the Great Frederick Fair could draw extra traffic this weekend and next weekend. TransIT also plans extra service.

In D.C., the Race to Beat Cancer 5K is scheduled to close streets in and around Georgetown and Foggy Bottom Saturday morning, from about 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Closures include the eastbound Whitehurst Freeway.

Around the same time, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday, separate closures are planned on Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest from Freedom Plaza to near the Capitol and Independence Avenue Southwest from Third to Seventh streets for The Fast and the Fierce 5K.

Also Saturday, the Congress Heights Day Parade closes Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue Southeast from Savannah Street to Howard Road Southeast near the Anacostia Metro.

The Celebrate Petworth event closes Upshur Street at 8th Street in Northwest.

In Silver Spring, Maryland, some road closures are scheduled Sunday for FutureFest at the Silver Spring Civic Building and Veterans Plaza.

Coming up

In the week ahead, watch for overnight closures from about midnight to 5 a.m. on Interstate 66 westbound at Route 28 for bridge beam installation as part of toll lane construction.

Next week is also Virginia’s Try Transit Week. Among the promotions, Arlington is offering free ART bus rides on Thursday, Sept. 19.

In Maryland though, Montgomery County’s Ride On bus is cutting service starting this weekend on three routes — Routes 26 and 59 drop to every 20 minutes at rush hour, and Route 38 drops to every 30 minutes. There are also a number of other Ride On schedule adjustments effective Sunday.

The region’s Car Free Days events designed to reduce pollution by encouraging people to walk, bike, take transit or telework are next weekend, Sept. 21-23.

Those may be good days to avoid I-95 in Virginia as well. Weather permitting, Virginia’s Department of Transportation expects major delays on I-95 northbound from 4 p.m. on Sept. 21 until 10 a.m. on Sept. 22 as traffic is shifted to new temporary travel lanes in the median. During most of the work, I-95 north will be reduced to a single lane.

The shift is part of construction on a new bridge over Route 17 at Exit 133. If the weather does not cooperate, the closure would shift to the following weekend.

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