Metro will close its Bethesda station this weekend in order to perform some heavy-duty construction work on one of the station’s three escalators.
Word of the closure spread last week. On Wednesday, Metro detailed why the move is necessary.
As part of its lengthy escalator replacement project, Metro needs 52 consecutive hours to install a new motor and truss for the first of the three escalators to be replaced. Large gantry cranes will move and position nine sections of the new truss, or frame, for the 212-foot long escalator that’s been closed since October.
Crews will put two motors about the size of a small car in the escalator pit to replace “the outdated six-motor configuration that powered the original escalator.”
Metro said crews need the station closed in order to safely install, align and mechanically fasten the new escalator truss sections.
To accommodate the closure, Metro will run free shuttle buses between the Bethesda and Medical Center stations every 5 to 10 minutes. Red Line trains will bypass the Bethesda station in both directions. Metro said passengers traveling to or from the Bethesda station to add about 15 minutes to their travel time.
It will take about 42 weeks to complete the replacement of each of the three long escalators, a process that includes demolition, construction, installation and testing. Metro decided to replace one escalator at a time in order to keep the station functioning as best as possible.
The other two escalator replacements will also require weekend closures for similar work.
The Bethesda escalators — the second longest in the Western Hemisphere — are more than 30-year-old and “have exceeded their useful life,” Metro said.
Flickr photo by ehpien
