The entire Metrorail system will open at 5 a.m. on Sunday, April 6, two hours ahead of schedule, to accommodate the annual Cherry Blossom 10-mile run.
The event is scheduled to start at 7:30 a.m. Trains will arrive every four minutes at “stations served by multiple lines downtown,” the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said in a release.
The event, which draws more than 17,000 runners plus spectators, has been held since 1973. The closest station to the start and finish lines is the Smithsonian station on the Orange, Blue and Silver lines, though officials warned there may be heavy traffic there.
As an alternative, Metro officials recommended using the Federal Triangle station, which is served by the same three lines and is about 12 minutes from the starting point by foot, or the L’Enfant Plaza station which serves the Orange, Blue, Silver, Green and Yellow lines. It is about 19 minutes by foot from L’Enfant Plaza to the starting line.
On Saturday, April 5, at 9:15 a.m., the organizers are also holding a 5K race.
Metrorail will open at 7 a.m. as usual on April 5. The event’s organizers recommend using either Federal Triangle or Metro Center, which serves the Orange, Blue, Silver and Red lines, to get to the staging area at Freedom Plaza, just down the street from the White House along Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
