From WMATA:

“Metro’s multi-year rebuilding effort will continue over the weekend of June 14-16 with service adjustments beginning at 10 p.m. Friday night and continuing through system closing on Sunday.

Metro is investing $5.5 billion to install new rail, ties, platforms, escalators, signals, lighting, communication systems, and more. It represents the largest capital investment — and work effort — since the system’s original construction in the early 1970s.

Red Line – 10 p.m. Fri., June 14 through closing Sun., June 16

•Free shuttle buses will replace Red Line trains between Rhode Island Avenue and Forest Glen to allow for ongoing platform reconstruction, tie replacement, drainage improvements, communication system upgrades and track maintenance.
•Four stations will be closed: Brookland, Fort Totten, Takoma and Silver Spring.
•Red Line trains will operate between Shady Grove and Rhode Island and between Forest Glen and Glenmont every 10 minutes during daytime hours, and at regular weekend intervals (every 15-20 minutes) at other times.

•Shuttle buses will operate between Forest Glen and Rhode Island Avenue on two routes: Limited-stop buses will operate between Forest Glen and Rhode Island stations, with a single intermediate stop at Silver Spring. Passengers using limited-stop buses should add up to 40 minutes to their travel time. Local buses will operate between Forest Glen and Rhode Island Avenue, with intermediate stops at Silver Spring, Takoma, Fort Totten and Brookland stations. Passengers should add 10 minutes of travel time for each station stop. For example, a rider traveling from Brookland to Rhode Island Avenue should add 10 minutes for one stop. A rider traveling from Fort Totten to Forest Glen should add 30 minutes because the bus makes three stops.

•On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, the last train from Glenmont to Forest Glen will depart 53 minutes earlier than normal to allow for shuttle bus connections. The last train will depart Glenmont at 1:44 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights and at 10:44 p.m. on Sunday.
Orange, Blue, Yellow & Green lines – 10 p.m. Fri., June 14 through closing Sun., June 16

Trains on all other lines (Orange, Blue, Yellow and Green) will operate every 20 minutes throughout the weekend to allow for rebuilding work in several work zones:

•Between Stadium-Armory and Addison Road for repairs to the floating concrete slabs beneath the rails;
•Between Cheverly and New Carrollton for rail, tie and insulator replacement and renewal; and
•Between Fort Totten and Prince George’s Plaza for fiber optic cable repair and rail fastener replacement.

Note: Yellow Line trains will operate between Huntington and Mount Vernon Square this weekend. Passengers traveling to/from stations north of Mount Vernon Square should use Green Line trains to complete their trip.”

From DDOT:

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will be closing the two westbound lanes on K Street NW near 22nd Street NW from 10:30 p.m. on Friday, June 14, 2013 to 5 a.m. on Monday, June 17, 2013. Eastbound K Street NW will remain open during this closure.

This closure is required to allow crews to conduct repair and preservation work on the 22nd Street NW Bridge over K Street NW. Signed detours will be posted during the closure.

DETOUR

Westbound K Street NW traffic will be directed to enter the service roadway, proceed halfway around Washington Circle and then merge onto the westbound service roadway to K Street NW.

Dysfunction Junction chronicles the most forlorn, baffling, and wonderful crossroads of our fair city. The column is written by Ben Ball, a transportation nerd in his spare time. He lives in LeDroit Park. Ben previously wrote about Colesville Road/16th St/Portal Road.

This intersection isn’t that bad…yet.  Just wait a few years, though.  Those triangular lots (the ones that got Jim Graham into all that trouble) will soon be developed into mixed-use buildings.  A block south, Progression Place is almost done.  A few blocks north, the still mythical (but fully subsidized) Howard Town Center would add further density.  Once all this happens, there are going to be a whole lot more people in this area.  And if there’s anything that this series has shown, it’s that DC has a hard time adjusting existing infrastructure to a sudden influx of development.

The future here looks bright.  The present?  Not so much.  First of all, there’s that CVS that Howard University owns (let the debate resume).  I’m sure the CVS parking lot made sense when it was built, but now it’s very much out of place in an increasingly transit-oriented area.  The fact that it often features more ne’er-do-wells than cars seems to indicate that redevelopment would make sense.  (Assessed value:  $3.8 million, which seems awfully low for such a large and prominent lot.)

There’s a very noisy music war going on at this intersection.  On the southeast corner, Central Communications blasts go-go and beat-centric jams.  Not to be outdone, the nearby Gospel Spreading Bible Bookstore likes to pump out inspirational tunes.  I always feel bad for the poor flower shop people, who are caught in the cacophonous crossfire.

For a very long time, the Douglas Development-owned building on the northeast corner sat vacant.  Strangely enough, the tenant they eventually found is exactly what this intersection already had – a pharmacy.  With Howard University Hospital just up the street I guess there’s plenty of demand, but it still seems strange.  I find it incredibly adorable that they plastered a huge picture of the owner (in a bow tie!) on the windows of this place, but those window coverings have the unfortunate visual effect of making the place look either boarded up or closed.

This area is set for a restaurant boom in the coming year, with Mediterranean tapas, a Thai place, a bar or three, and a brewpub all on the horizon – and that doesn’t even count all the Progression Place restaurants. Meanwhile, the demise of Italy Pizza and the Capoeira Spot means that even more change is probably in store.  With all of this happening at once, those sidewalks are starting to look really skinny, and the traffic which courses through this area is only going to get more congested.  They are building it, and we will come.  Now is the time for DC to take a long hard look at getting this intersection ready for prime time.

From WMATA:

Metro’s multi-year rebuilding effort will continue over the weekend of June 7-9 with service adjustments beginning at 10 p.m. Friday night and continuing through system closing on Sunday.

Red Line – 10 p.m. Fri., June 7 through closing Sun., June 9

Red Line trains will single track through two work zones:
• between Shady Grove and Twinbrook for rail, fastener, insulator and third-rail work; and
• between Rhode Island Ave and Takoma for ongoing platform reconstruction, tie replacement and track maintenance.

Throughout the weekend, Red Line trains will operate every 24 minutes between Shady Grove and Glenmont. From 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, additional trains will operate between Grosvenor and NoMa-Gallaudet, resulting in service about every 12 minutes between these stations.

To reduce their wait time, riders who normally park at Shady Grove, Rockville, Twinbrook or White Flint may wish to use Grosvenor Station this weekend instead.

Passengers will experience the longer wait time on the platform; once a train departs a station, it is not expected to encounter delays en route.

Orange, Blue, Yellow & Green lines – 10 p.m. Fri., June 7 through closing Sun., June 9

Trains on all other lines (Orange, Blue, Yellow and Green) will operate every 18 minutes throughout the weekend to allow for rebuilding work in several work zones:
• between Stadium-Armory and Cheverly for platform reconstruction
• between Mt Vernon Square and U Street for switch replacement, rail renewal and joint elimination
• between East Falls Church and West Falls Church for Silver Line testing

Note: Yellow Line trains will operate between Huntington and Fort Totten this weekend.

Dear PoPville,

I’ve noticed that some stations along the red line (union, judiciary square and I think even Chinatown) that once had cell phone service don’t seem to any more. Do you know anything about that?

Dysfunction Junction chronicles the most forlorn, baffling, and wonderful crossroads of our fair city. The column is written by Ben Ball, a transportation nerd in his spare time. He lives in LeDroit Park. Ben previously wrote about 18th and Florida/U St, NW.

This intersection is like the DC equivalent of the River Styx – a grim passage between two worlds that is a test of character in and of itself.  (Now, would that put Hades in Maryland or the District?  You decide.)  The Washington Post recently called it “a treacherous test of patience” – one that officials on both sides of the border have whined about but failed to fix.

DC recorded twelve accidents in this intersection in 2012 (Montgomery County hasn’t released data for its side).  A pedestrian was killed here in 2009.  So why are we still waiting for this to be fixed after years of promises?

Overlapping jurisdictions are supposedly to blame.  Traffic engineers apparently agree that the problem is on the Maryland side – a signal is needed on Colesville Road.  Getting the funding and approvals to install that signal requires action not only from Montgomery County and the District, but also the Maryland State Highway Administration, and therein lies the rub.  The request for proposals on a series of traffic improvements just went out in January – five years after everyone agreed on what needed to be done.  (Hopefully they’ll keep an eye on any concrete…)

Approaching the circle, there’s an amazing glut of signage.  Arrows point the way to a bunch of numbered Maryland highways, a bizarre placard on the Maryland side demonstrates various ways you might try to go through, and the circle itself is full of stops and yields that confuse even veterans of DC’s many traffic circle models.  The bumper-level dent in the “welcome to Silver Spring” sign seems to sum it all up.

Trying to walk in this area?  Don’t.  The lack of crosswalks on the Maryland side certainly contributes to the Frogger-like feel.  But the part that really takes the cake is in the middle of the circle, where they’ve installed tactile paving for the blind…without a matching crosswalk.  This supposes that anyone (let alone the visually impaired) would even attempt to cross straight through the middle without a serious death wish.  And what is there to experience in the middle of that circle anyway?  Shrubs?

Thanks to a reader for sending these great photos of the 11th Street Bridge:

“This is from the last Navy Gate on 11th-where the path splits: down to the NY trail or up over the bridge.”

“Temp access on left, permanent on right (nice n wide) but concrete still drying.”

“Pedestrian observation decks off of 11th St Bridge – this is gonna be awesome when it’s finished!!”

From DDOT:

The National Park Service (NPS) has announced that it will be initiating temporary closures on Park Road NW to perform tree maintenance work.

To facilitate this work, Park Road NW will be closed from Beach Drive to Pierce Mill Road from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5 and Thursday, June 6, 2013.

Temporary signs and traffic control measures will be in place to alert and guide travelers during these closures.

From WMATA:

Red Line – 10 p.m. Fri., May 31 through closing Sun., June 2

Free shuttle buses will replace Red Line trains between Woodley Park and Metro Center to allow for improvements to third-rail infrastructure, elimination of rail joints, track fasteners replacement, communications upgrades and fiber-optic cable installation.

Two stations will be closed: Dupont Circle and Farragut North.

Throughout the weekend, Red Line trains will operate in two segments:
• Between Shady Grove and Woodley Park every 10 minutes during daytime hours and every 15-20 minutes at other times.
• Between Metro Center and Glenmont every 15 minutes during daytime hours and every 15-20 minutes at other times.

Express buses will operate between Woodley Park and Metro Center without intermediate stops; passengers using express buses should add 20 minutes to their travel time. Local buses will operate between Woodley Park and Metro Center, making intermediate stops at Dupont Circle and Farragut North; passengers using local buses should add 25 minutes to their travel time.

Orange, Blue, Yellow & Green lines – 10 p.m. Fri., May 31 through closing Sun., June 2

Trains on all other lines (Orange, Blue, Yellow and Green) will operate every 22 minutes throughout the weekend to allow for rebuilding work in five separate work zones:
• On the Blue Line between Stadium-Armory and Addison Road, workers will rehabilitate concrete structures below the rails and upgrade rail communication systems.
• On the Yellow and Blue lines between Braddock Road and Van Dorn Street, workers will install new rail ties and third-rail insulators, eliminate rail joints and perform ballast tamping (reconditioning of the crushed stone beneath the rails).
• On the Orange Line between Stadium-Armory and Cheverly, crews will continue major platform reconstruction efforts at Deanwood and Minnesota Avenue stations, as well as track and third-rail renewal.
• On the Green Line between Anacostia and Southern Avenue, workers will clean and repair third-rail insulators, repair leaks and clear drains.
• On the Green Line between Greenbelt and College Park, work will continue on a new test track for acceptance of 7000-series railcars.

From DDOT:

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has provided the following information about scheduled street closures for multiple events that are scheduled to be held on Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2, 2013.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Taste of Georgetown

The following street will be affected by street closures from 12 a.m. to 9 p.m.:

· Wisconsin Avenue NW, between M Street and K Street

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Post Hunt

The following street will be closed from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.:

· Pennsylvania Avenue NW, from 13th Street to 14th Street