POST Local

Metro General Manager Richard Sarles is making some shifts in his top-level management, a move he says will help develop strategic plans for the agency’s future.

Metro General Manager and CEO Richard Sarles participates in a Washington Post Live panel discussion for Fixing America's Foundation: Rebuilding Transportation Infrastructure on Oct. 14, 2011. (Marvin Joseph - WASHINGTON POST) The changes go into effect this summer and Sarles described them as “an evolution in the organization.”

Sarles said the system is undergoing major rebuilding, working through a backlog of repairs and preparing for the new Silver Line to open. The management changes are looking “beyond that as an organization,” he said.

“We’re going to have the system rebuilt safely,” he said. “We have to look beyond that. We have to look at the big picture and what should WMATA be doing in the long range, as the population will continue to grow and demand for our services will continue to grow.”

A traveler reacted to reports of relatively low attendance at Nationals baseball games by sending along these helpful thoughts about traveling to Nationals Park.

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

I have some observations from the past three seasons of early-week Nats games.

1. Is anyone driving to the games and using the parking lots? They’ve always looked pretty empty, and at $40 a spot, little wonder. The only lots I ever see being used in a way that’s noticeable are the ones next to the center field gate.

2. Getting to the stadium on the Green Line is never a problem. Getting back involves that crush that everyone dislikes; however, in all of my trips, Metro employees have been thoroughly professional in herding the crush over the full length of the platform. Some people might not like the feeling of being herded, but Metro employees get top marks from me for their friendliness and professionalism.

3. The part of that trip I dislike is the platform switch at L’Enfant Plaza. Sometimes the Yellow Line train comes in on the opposite platform from usual, and once, recently, a Blue Line train came in on the Yellow Line platform. It’s just Metro using the trains efficiently, but you know how everyone dislikes having to think quickly on a Metro platform.

4. My way around the crush is to walk to the New Jersey Avenue side of the Navy Yard station to pick up the D.C. Circulator bus toward Union Station, which takes me to the Eastern Market Metro station. I’ve noticed that there don’t seem to be many people using the Circulator. Hope that service stays! It works fine!

5. I’ve also walked up New Jersey Avenue to the Capitol South station, and on a very crowded night, many hundreds of others do that as well. Not exactly pedestrian heaven, but highly doable.

No sports venue is as ideally located as Verizon Center: atop three lines, with an easy walk to two more. Caps and Wizards fans have it sweet.

Kurt Jensen, Alexandria

DG: Jensen also said he’s never taken one of the Potomac River water taxis that can carry fans to and from the waterfront side of the stadium. He said he’d rather spend his money on the game ticket and the occasional Nats Dog.

Off-street parking north and east of the stadium has expanded quite a bit since the early days. The prices range from $41.88 just north of Nationals Park to $5, if you’re willing to walk from the lot under the Southeast-Southwest Freeway by South Capitol Street. On the Nationals Web site, washington.nationals.
mlb.com, fans can buy parking space for individual games or for season plans.

Many fans have commented lately that they prefer taking their cars to waiting for Metro trains during the weekend or late-night Metro maintenance delays.

The hassle is in the driving and waiting in line, not in the parking itself. But Jensen makes some smart observations about the transit alternative.

Metro does do a good job managing congestion at the Green Line’s Navy Yard station before and after games. The transfer stations are more troublesome, especially during the surge after games.

If Jensen and other fans want to stick with the Yellow Line for trips back to Alexandria, they might stay aboard their northbound Green Line train past L’Enfant Plaza and get off at Archives, where there’s likely to be less crowding, and they need only walk across the center platform to catch a southbound Yellow Line train.

But Jensen has a good alternative with the District’s Circulator buses, scheduled to operate about every 10 minutes. That route has been adjusted to help stay on schedule and encourage ridership. The route no longer terminates inside the Union Station garage, where some delays occurred.

The walk from Capitol South is also a good option. It’s easier walking downhill to the games, and that’s almost always in daylight.

8:40 A.M. Update:

One lane of eastbound Route 7 has reopened at the Berlin Turnpike/Route 287, according to the Loudoun Sheriff’s office. They expect the accident to be cleared shortly.

8:35 A.M. Update:

An accident is blocking eastbound Route 7 at the Berlin Turnpike/Route 287 in Purcellville.

An accident on the outer loop of the Beltway after New Hampshire Avenue is blocking one of the shoulders.

A disabled vehicle on the inner loop of the Beltway at the Little River Turnpike is blocking the right shoulder.

A disabled vehicle on I-395 South after King Street is blocking the right shoulder.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which oversees Reagan National and Dulles International airports as well as the construction of Metro’s new Silver Line in Northern Virginia, came in for considerable criticism Tuesday in an 18-page report from the U.S. Transportation Department’s inspector general.

Not surprisingly, given the continuing debates over MWAA and the Silver Line, there was lots of reaction to the new report.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement that he was ”confident in MWAA’s new leadership” and that he’s been assured that they “will take every step necessary to achieve greater transparency and accountability going forward.” He also said “past problems should not impact the progress we are making on the Silver Line.”

8:30 A.M. Update:

The accident on I-395 North before Edsall Road is blocking the right shoulder.

The disabled vehicle on I-95 North before St. Barnabas Road has been cleared.