Metro SafeTrack June 2016 to March 2017 (Arlington, Washington: moving, train, cars)

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by VRE332

Now that you have purchased a lifestyle out in Loudoun, you can now think was it really worth it, and waking up at 5am is really quality of life and happiness for you and your family?

Not sure who, specifically, this comment was aimed at, but as someone who commutes from Loudoun to DC daily, I'll answer. I've done this now for six years, and STILL love the bucolic area where I live. I would not change it. Certainly worth the commute.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by VRE332

Now that you have purchased a lifestyle out in Loudoun, you can now think was it really worth it, and waking up at 5am is really quality of life and happiness for you and your family?

We get up at 4:30 am to commute from Ashburn to Sterling. Only thing is that we work at 6 am. It was worth it for my family.

[dkf747]

Now that silliness is out of the way, there was definitely more traffic on some of the back roads of North Arlington and Falls Church area yesterday afternoon on our way to Arlington. It took longer, but wasn't too bad.

[kevinm]

Originally Posted by FCNova

I don't know. My friend lives in Vienna and takes the orange line into the city. His normal 45 minute commute was 1.5 hours yesterday morning. His office is planning a lot of telework days during the weeks the Orange line is being worked on. This clearly is going to suck for a lot of people.

How is that possible? Are the trains running slower? Once on a train, your commute time should not change.

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by kevinm

How is that possible? Are the trains running slower? Once on a train, your commute time should not change.

Of course the trains are running slower. They're single tracking so workers can do the maintenance. How would they be doing the work if all tracks were in use?

[cheriex333]

My colleagues who take the orange/silver line are currently dealing with the single tracking pain, it's taking them almost twice as long from Vienna/Reston to downtown DC. I'm on the blue line so haven't been hugely impacted yet. Those who take the Loudoun Commuter bus also note the higher than usual traffic volume.

I can deal with the single tracking but have no good alternatives during the line segment shutdown. There is discussion that buses will be provided to connect but whether they will be sufficient is another thing.

[leighland]

Originally Posted by kevinm

How is that possible? Are the trains running slower? Once on a train, your commute time should not change.

Unlike NYC Philly and Chicago, DC is a 2 track system. This means if one set of tracks is being worked on both northbound and southbound trains must share one set of track. Imagine you have 2 hotweelcars sharing one track. If your blue car does not stop to let the red car pass, they will crash headon
Big cities don't have this problem as they built 4 sets of track(as opposed to 2 with a rare tiny sidetrack indiscriminately shoved in corners here and there that cheapo DC built)

Also this majorly slows and backs up the metro as cars must queue to get their chance to pass by opposite metro cars


The entire system will take turns running this way for at least a year per Wiedefeld/Jack Evans at Metro

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by dkf747

Now that silliness is out of the way, there was definitely more traffic on some of the back roads of North Arlington and Falls Church area yesterday afternoon on our way to Arlington. It took longer, but wasn't too bad.

This morning I got on 66 W from the Washington Blvd exit. 66 E was an absolute parking lot at that point when typically the cars are still moving eastbound even at 7:40 am. I noticed 50 W in the afternoon is even more brutal than usual.

[leighland]

Originally Posted by The Dissenter

This morning I got on 66 W from the Washington Blvd exit. 66 E was an absolute parking lot at that point when typically the cars are still moving eastbound even at 7:40 am. I noticed 50 W in the afternoon is even more brutal than usual.

My DH was telecommuting M,T and W and was ok'd to telework until next week as he takes Orange line from FFx. Wednesday morning OPM put out a memo to fed mgrs to encourage telewoking/shifted schedules for any employees affected by #SafeTrack :thumpsup:
That afternoon, my hubbys mgr emailed everyone that unless they have a time-sensitive item to work on, they must report to work in person.
His mgr alone put a bunch of people on the roads/Metro/etc that were home M,T and W. How many other feds who can't comprehend OPM's memo threw people into commuting that were home earlier in the week?

[JD984]

Originally Posted by The Dissenter

This morning I got on 66 W from the Washington Blvd exit. 66 E was an absolute parking lot at that point when typically the cars are still moving eastbound even at 7:40 am. I noticed 50 W in the afternoon is even more brutal than usual.

There was a bad two-car accident on 66E in Arlington this am - it closed down one lane between EFC and Ballston. Saw it from a Metro train around the time you were heading west. That would have slowed down traffic considerably under any circumstances.