Metro is inching forward with multibillion-dollar expansion proposals that include a tunnel between D.C. and Virginia, as well as stations for Georgetown and National Harbor.
The proposals are part of the agency’s long-range plans that transit leaders say address several shortcomings in the rail system, including a lack of tunnel capacity between Foggy Bottom in the District and Rosslyn in Virginia. Metro officials said growth around stations that use the tunnel is projected to create crowding problems — something that had been occurring before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Transit officials on Monday released an analysis of six options to boost the rail system’s capacity in the coming decades, ranging from doing nothing to spending as much as $50 billion to reorient Blue or Silver lines.
Advertisement
The expansion proposals come as Metro will face a $750 million operating deficit in the next fiscal year because of ridership losses to telework and a nearly maxed-out construction funding stream that is paying back bonds Metro has used to repair and modernize the rail system. Transit officials acknowledge the capacity problems Metro was facing in 2019 are not straining the system now, after the pandemic cut ridership in half. But they say growth is continuing, particularly near some of the Northern Virginia stations, while emergencies or maintenance needs often create slowdowns in the bottleneck around the Potomac tunnel.
“Running three lines through one tunnel and set of tracks creates challenges for Metro and our customers, including crowding during peak periods, service reliability issues, a lack of operational flexibility, and threats to long-term sustainability,” Metro planners wrote in a presentation that the transit agency’s members will discuss Thursday.
Changes to improve the corridor could take 10 to 20 years to build, transit leaders say, and the complexity of any expansion plan would require years of planning and coordination between local jurisdictions and the federal government. It would be decades before any extension would open to riders.
Metro officials acknowledge it’s an uncomfortable time to bring up such an expensive proposal when Metro hasn’t found a solution to its looming deficit and dwindling construction money.
Advertisement
Metro says jurisdictions along the lengthy corridor served by the Orange, Silver and Blue lines are expected to add 37 percent more people and 30 percent more jobs by 2040. Transit leaders said Metro doesn’t have a good projection for 2040 ridership, but they said that Metro’s operational problems and the residential growth occurring along the corridor will remain.
Joe Sternlieb, president of the Georgetown Business Improvement District, said in a statement that a new tunnel and Metrorail expansion connecting Georgetown to the rail system “is essential to the health of our region.”
The six options before Metro leaders vary in size and scope.
The first proposes no expansion of Metrorail, leaving the corridor as is, with transportation needs being left to bus rapid transit lines and Maryland’s light-rail Purple Line system.
The second option proposes enhanced Metrobus and bus rapid transit service, and rail scheduling that shifts to handle crowding with capacity increases coming from possible rail car design changes and expanded stations. Metro estimates this option would cost $3 billion to $5 billion, then $75 million to $100 million annually to operate.
A third option proposes realigning the Blue Line from the Arlington Cemetery station to a new Rosslyn station. It would then run through a new tunnel beneath the river, stopping along M Street in Georgetown before connecting to Union Station, then northeast to areas such as Ivy City in the District and Hyattsville in Maryland, ending at Greenbelt. Metro estimates the option would cost $25 billion to $30 billion to build, then another $125 million to $150 million a year to operate.
Another option proposes the same Blue Line realignment in Northwest Washington, but tracks would shift south from Union Station and connect to the D.C. waterfront and Navy Yard, serving areas such as Buzzard Point, St. Elizabeths and National Harbor. The line would cross the Woodrow Wilson Bridge to Alexandria. Project costs under this design would be $30 billion to $35 billion, then $175 million to $200 million annually to operate.
Advertisement
Kent Digby, president and chairman of the National Harbor Convention and Visitors Bureau, said businesses have been clamoring for a station for years. Buses have been adequate in helping 15 million visitors annually and 12,000 employees arrive at National Harbor, but a rail line would be a significant boost.
“Any expansion of the Metro line, no matter where it is, is a benefit to the community that receives it — National Harbor being no exception,” Digby said. “We would welcome the Metro line coming to National Harbor, and we’ve been a positive proponent of that idea for almost 20 years.”
A fifth proposal would create a separate tunnel and tracks for the Silver Line starting at West Falls Church. From that station, the line would connect to a second Rosslyn station before serving Georgetown, Union Station, Ivy City, Hyattsville, College Park and Greenbelt. The line and new tunnel would be able to operate “express service” — something passengers have wanted for extended Silver Line trips.
Transit officials said the proposal would cost $35 billion to $40 billion to build and $175 million to $200 million a year to operate.
The last option, transit officials said, proposes breaking off the Silver Line from the Orange Line at Clarendon and connecting it to a second Rosslyn station, Georgetown and Union Station before shifting northeast to Ivy City and New Carrollton in Maryland. Doing so would cost $25 billion to $30 billion in construction, then $125 million to $150 million per year to operate.
Metro planners said two options best meet the transit agency’s goals and needs: The Blue Line realignment to National Harbor, and the plan that would put the Silver Line on separate tracks and shift it northeast from West Falls Church to Greenbelt.
Metro’s board members won’t vote on the options during their Thursday review. Transit officials said they need to gather public feedback, which they plan to do over the next 2½ months. That information will be included in another report, and then the board will revisit the options in late fall or winter, according to Metro.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZMGzrc2sp6iqpJbBqrvNaGlpamNkfXh7kGlmpp2kp7xusdepmKermaS7brPEqKmgnaSkxK95066lp52cZA%3D%3D