Extending the K9 to White Oak (New Hampshire Avenue Limited-Stop)

September 3rd, 2013

In order to better serve riders on the New Hampshire Avenue corridor in Maryland, Metro is proposing to extend the K9 to the White Oak Shopping Center.  Currently, the K9 travels between Northwest Park and the Fort Totten Metrorail station, but under the proposed service change, the following would occur:

  • The K9 would be extended to White Oak with new limited stops at Oakview Drive, Hillandale Shopping Center, Schindler Drive/Mahan Road/FDA, Lockwood Drive, and the White Oak Transit Center.    The service would operate every 12-15 minutes during AM and PM rush.
  • The K9 would no longer operate through the Northwest Park apartment complex.
  • K9 northbound trips during the AM rush and southbound trips during the PM rush would replace K6 service to the FDA at the Federal Research Center.
  • During hours the K9 is operating, every other K6 would terminate at Northwest Park.  K6 service would operate every 20 minutes between White Oak and Fort Totten and every 10 minutes between Northwest Park and Fort Totten.

Potential rerouting of the K9:  In addition to, and independent of, extending the K9 to White Oak, Metro is also looking at rerouting the K9 between Eastern Avenue and Ft. Totten to serve the new Fort Totten Square development.  With this change, the K9 would access Ft. Totten via Eastern Avenue and Riggs Road, with a new stop at Riggs Road and Chillum Place.  The existing southbound stops on New Hampshire Avenue at Eastern Ave. and Rittenhouse St. would be replaced by a single stop on Eastern Ave. at Rittenhouse St.

The map below illustrates the changes proposed. Please review and let us know what you think.  We will also be presenting these options at our upcoming public hearings.

Rts_K6_K9

Map showing proposed changes to the K6 and K9 routes. Click image for larger version.

 

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  1. EFinn
    September 4th, 2013 at 22:28 | #1

    This is an interesting positive development, but what about the terrible north bound back-ups between Adelphi and Powder Mill every evening? Won’t the schedule be terribly impacted with these bottlenecks? What is the possibility of getting Q-jumpers or signal priority on this line? What is the run time from the White Oak Shopping Center to Fort Totten with the K-9 service?

    And will the K-9 now mean that the MoCo Rapid Transit proposal for this route be permanently put on the back burner?

  2. Scott
    September 9th, 2013 at 11:44 | #2

    @EFinn We don’t have running times yet for the K9 all the way to White Oak. However we are aware of the PM northbound congestion between Northwest Park and the Beltway and running times for the K9 would account for this.

    As for Montgomery County’s BRT proposal for NH Ave, I cannot speak for them. However, I would not view the K9 and the BRT proposal as mutually exclusive but more the K9 as another step in the evolution of transit service within the corridor. We will continue to work with our jurisdictional partners along the route on right of way improvements (signal priority, queue jumps, dedicated bus lanes, and intersection improvements) that will speed the movement of buses along NH Avenue.

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