Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
As shutdown looms on Blue and Yellow lines, Metro confronts 'Braddock hump'
Full disclosure: Braddock Road is the stop I use more than any other.
Transportation
As shutdown looms on Blue and Yellow lines, Metro confronts ‘Braddock hump’
By Paul Duggan
May 11 at 4:38 PM
Starting May 25, when Metro stops train service to Alexandria and parts of Arlington and Fairfax counties to rebuild decaying platforms, one of the six shuttered stations, Braddock Road, will require a lot of extra work. The main problem there, called “the Braddock hump,” is emblematic of age-old infrastructure woes in the subway resulting from a pattern of neglect that transit officials have vowed to change. ... With a planned 15-week shutdown looming for thousands of riders of the Blue and Yellow lines — the longest closure of line segments in Metro’s 43-year history — General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld rode to Braddock one recent morning to inspect the hump. Stepping off a train, he paused, straddling the open doorway with one black dress shoe just inside the rail car and the other planted three inches higher on the misaligned platform. ... “You see?” he said with a rueful grin. “Not good.”
The platform, the only one at Braddock, stretches 600 feet in the middle of the station between the southbound and northbound tracks. For 200 feet at its southern end, the platform is bowed slightly upward on both sides, out of alignment with train doors. In addition to being a wheelchair impediment that possibly violates the Americans With Disabilities Act, the hump is a trip-and-fall hazard for exiting passengers, who are warned in a recorded message to be careful.
And, unsurprisingly given Metro’s disastrous old habit of putting off repairs, the hump isn’t new: The platform was noticeably lopsided in mid-December 1983, when the station first opened. ... Of the half-dozen Northern Virginia stations due for new platform decks, only Braddock has a hump problem, which has greatly complicated the planned work there. It is the reason Metro recently announced that the shutdown, initially scheduled to end Sept. 3, will be extended to Sept. 9, further hurting businesses in the area, exacerbating the usual post-Labor Day spike in commuter traffic, and enraging local officials.
[Despite years of warnings, Metro sank into a maintenance crisis.]
Braddock Road, King Street-Old Town, Eisenhower Avenue, Huntington, Van Dorn Street and Franconia-Springfield stations, normally used by an average of 17,000 riders each weekday morning, are scheduled to be closed for 107 days starting at 1 a.m. on the Saturday before Memorial Day. Fleets of shuttle buses will ferry passengers from the six stations to other parts of the rail system. Metro has created a trip planner at wmata.com/platforms to help riders navigate the shutdown. On the website, go to “Alternative Travel Options.” ... The soon-to-be shuttered stations, all with outdoor platforms, were constructed in the 1980s and ’90s, but Braddock wasn’t built correctly. ... “I don’t know what the deal was back then,” Wiedefeld said, his slender frame listing awkwardly as he stared at the heave in the floor between his feet. He joined Metro in 2015, tasked with revitalizing an agency mired in dysfunction. Why transit executives 35 years ago accepted a contractor’s flawed work at Braddock is apparently lost to history.
Metro chief Paul J. Wiedefeld checks out the platform alignment problem at the Braddock Road station. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
Wiedefeld shook his head. Four adjacent stations (Braddock Road, King Street, Eisenhower Avenue and Huntington) were christened the same day in 1983 in a grand celebration of Metro expansion. Maybe no one wanted to spoil the big party; maybe the bosses reckoned that the Braddock deck could simply be de-humped later. ... Of course, that never happened.
....
Paul Duggan has been a staff writer for The Washington Post since 1987. He specializes in crime and justice issues but also has written extensively about housing problems in Washington, particularly the impact of gentrification. He is a former general assignment reporter, assignment editor and national correspondent for The Post. Follow https://twitter.com/dugganwapo
As shutdown looms on Blue and Yellow lines, Metro confronts ‘Braddock hump’
By Paul Duggan
May 11 at 4:38 PM
Starting May 25, when Metro stops train service to Alexandria and parts of Arlington and Fairfax counties to rebuild decaying platforms, one of the six shuttered stations, Braddock Road, will require a lot of extra work. The main problem there, called “the Braddock hump,” is emblematic of age-old infrastructure woes in the subway resulting from a pattern of neglect that transit officials have vowed to change. ... With a planned 15-week shutdown looming for thousands of riders of the Blue and Yellow lines — the longest closure of line segments in Metro’s 43-year history — General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld rode to Braddock one recent morning to inspect the hump. Stepping off a train, he paused, straddling the open doorway with one black dress shoe just inside the rail car and the other planted three inches higher on the misaligned platform. ... “You see?” he said with a rueful grin. “Not good.”
The platform, the only one at Braddock, stretches 600 feet in the middle of the station between the southbound and northbound tracks. For 200 feet at its southern end, the platform is bowed slightly upward on both sides, out of alignment with train doors. In addition to being a wheelchair impediment that possibly violates the Americans With Disabilities Act, the hump is a trip-and-fall hazard for exiting passengers, who are warned in a recorded message to be careful.
And, unsurprisingly given Metro’s disastrous old habit of putting off repairs, the hump isn’t new: The platform was noticeably lopsided in mid-December 1983, when the station first opened. ... Of the half-dozen Northern Virginia stations due for new platform decks, only Braddock has a hump problem, which has greatly complicated the planned work there. It is the reason Metro recently announced that the shutdown, initially scheduled to end Sept. 3, will be extended to Sept. 9, further hurting businesses in the area, exacerbating the usual post-Labor Day spike in commuter traffic, and enraging local officials.
[Despite years of warnings, Metro sank into a maintenance crisis.]
Braddock Road, King Street-Old Town, Eisenhower Avenue, Huntington, Van Dorn Street and Franconia-Springfield stations, normally used by an average of 17,000 riders each weekday morning, are scheduled to be closed for 107 days starting at 1 a.m. on the Saturday before Memorial Day. Fleets of shuttle buses will ferry passengers from the six stations to other parts of the rail system. Metro has created a trip planner at wmata.com/platforms to help riders navigate the shutdown. On the website, go to “Alternative Travel Options.” ... The soon-to-be shuttered stations, all with outdoor platforms, were constructed in the 1980s and ’90s, but Braddock wasn’t built correctly. ... “I don’t know what the deal was back then,” Wiedefeld said, his slender frame listing awkwardly as he stared at the heave in the floor between his feet. He joined Metro in 2015, tasked with revitalizing an agency mired in dysfunction. Why transit executives 35 years ago accepted a contractor’s flawed work at Braddock is apparently lost to history.
Metro chief Paul J. Wiedefeld checks out the platform alignment problem at the Braddock Road station. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
Wiedefeld shook his head. Four adjacent stations (Braddock Road, King Street, Eisenhower Avenue and Huntington) were christened the same day in 1983 in a grand celebration of Metro expansion. Maybe no one wanted to spoil the big party; maybe the bosses reckoned that the Braddock deck could simply be de-humped later. ... Of course, that never happened.
....
Paul Duggan has been a staff writer for The Washington Post since 1987. He specializes in crime and justice issues but also has written extensively about housing problems in Washington, particularly the impact of gentrification. He is a former general assignment reporter, assignment editor and national correspondent for The Post. Follow https://twitter.com/dugganwapo
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
