Metrorail Red Line Rehabilitation

Key Facts: Location: Washington, D.C.
Owner: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Washington, D.C.
Design-Build Contractor: Kiewit Corp., Peachtree City, Ga.
Start Date: December 2009
Completion Date: Summer 2012

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority embarked in December on the first phase of a four-year rehabilitation to the Metrorail�s Red Line in Washington, D.C. The Red Line, WMATA�s first subway line, opened in March 1976 with five stations.

The project aims to enhance the authority�s ability to keep the system in good repair with minimal disruptions. WMATA Metro Board approved the project in July.

Work includes rehabilitating the track with new rail insulators and track fasteners; repairing tunnels and crumbling platforms; installing new escalators at the entrance to the Dupont Circle Station, which opened in 1977, and at the Foggy Bottom Station on the Blue and Orange Line; and upgrading the electrical and closed-circuit television systems.

The first phase of the Red Line rehabilitation runs from the Dupont Circle Station to the Silver Spring Station, in Maryland. Kiewit Corp. of Peachtree City, Ga., received the $164-million, design-build contract, the first of three planned Red Line contracts.

The Red Line program is the first of many upgrades to the transit authority�s system as part of an overall infrastructure renewal program that includes bus facilities and rail yards.