From Almost 200,000 people would stream into downtown D.C. on a daily basis before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, occupying valuable office buildings and sustaining restaurants and other businesses. Patrick Thibodeau/Flickr
toggle caption Patrick Thibodeau/Flickr
In pre-pandemic times, Steven Weinstein was like hundreds of thousands of other Washington-area commuters. Every weekday, he went from his home in Centreville, Virginia, to his office at 16th and L streets in downtown D.C. He left the office a few times during the day for a cup of coffee or lunch.
All that ended last March, when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered most offices and left Weinstein to work from home. His company offered workers the chance to come back in the summer; not many did. By the end of the year, he says, the company decided not to renew its lease.
Metro seeks bond sales to raise $360 million for capital projects Justin George Weeks after a federal bailout helped Metro veer away from a fiscal crisis, the transit agency plans to borrow $360 million through bond sales to expedite construction projects officials say will make the system safer. While the economy struggles under the weight of a nearly year-long pandemic, Metro’s construction plan is pushing forward with upgrades and renovations intended to improve system reliability even as the future of public transit and commuting remains cloudy. Metro said the sale of bonds will be backed by annual dedicated funding that Maryland, Virginia and D.C. approved in 2018 for capital projects. Those projects include platform reconstructions, bridge replacements, drainage improvements and other infrastructure needs as part of a $5 billion backlog.