Travelers heading south to Reagan National Airport should budget extra time this weekend because the Crystal City Metro station will be closed.
The station will be closed from Saturday, Feb. 14, through Monday, Feb. 16, in the first of 10 weekend closures between now and June.
Free shuttle buses will instead run between Pentagon City and the airport, but these trips will take about 20 minutes, depending on traffic, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) said in a press release.
The closures will accommodate the construction of a second entrance to the Crystal City Metro station, which broke ground in July 2024.
Weekend closures will continue through March 8, then take a break for cherry blossom season before restarting on May 9. The Potomac Yard station will also be closed the weekends of March 8, May 9 and May 16.
More information on the closures and shuttle buses is below.
Metro will replace trains with shuttle buses between Pentagon City and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport over 10 select weekends from February through June. Crystal City will be closed to build a second entrance at the station as part of Arlington County’s Crystal City Sector plan. The new entrance will accommodate growing ridership at the station, support new development in the area, and play a key role in a broader effort to make Crystal City a walkable community.
On three of those 10 weekends, the construction zone will be extended to Braddock Rd to support additional track maintenance, requiring closures of Crystal City, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and Potomac Yard stations; rail service will be suspended in both directions from those stations. Free shuttles will also be available on these three weekends to support customers who need to reach these locations.
Metro originally planned for the construction zone to end at Potomac Yard, however, to ensure a better customer experience, Metro is extending the construction zone to end at Braddock Rd to reduce walking distance to shuttles and improve service reliability.
Local service shuttle buses will replace trains between Pentagon City and Reagan National Airport Feb. 14-16, Feb. 21-22, Feb. 28-March 1, May 30-31, June 6-7, June 13-14, and June 19-21, stopping at every station to mimic train service.
Shuttles will operate every 8 to 10 minutes.
During this time, customers will still be able to travel south into Virginia from the airport via Metro Rail. Customers traveling to the airport from north of Pentagon City should plan extra time to connect to the free shuttle buses. Shuttle trips are expected to take approximately 20 minutes depending on traffic.
Blue and Yellow line trains will run every 12 minutes on each side of the construction zone. All Yellow Line trains will run to Greenbelt during this time.
Local and Limited service shuttle buses will replace trains between Pentagon City and Braddock Rd on March 7-8, May 9-10, and May 16-17. Limited shuttle service will only make stops at three stations, Pentagon City, Reagan National Airport, and Braddock Rd.
Both shuttle options will operate every 8 to 10 minutes.
Customers traveling from the north to the airport should allow extra time and board shuttle buses at Pentagon City.
- Limited-stop shuttle trips from Pentagon City to the airport are expected to take approximately 20 minutes, depending on traffic.
- Local-stop shuttle trips from Pentagon City to Braddock Rd are expected to take 30 minutes or more, depending on traffic.
Customers traveling from the south to the airport should also plan extra time.
- Limited-stop shuttle trips between Braddock Rd and the airport are expected to take approximately 15 minutes, depending on traffic.
- Local-stop shuttle trips from Braddock Rd to Pentagon City are expected to take 30 minutes or more, depending on traffic.
Blue and Yellow line trains will run every 12 minutes on each side of the construction zone. All Yellow Line trains will run to Greenbelt.
