Metro Center (Washington Metro)

Metro Center
	Metro Center
Station statistics
Address	607 13th Street, Northwest; Washington, D.C. 20005
Lines	Blue Line Orange Line Red Line Silver Line (planned)
Connections	Metrobus; MTA Maryland Commuter Bus
Platforms	2 side platforms (upper level); 1 island platform (lower level)
Tracks	2 upper level, 2 lower level
Bicycle facilities	8 racks
Other information
Opened	March 27, 1976
Accessible
Code	A01 (upper level); C01 (lower level)
Owned by	Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	10.790 million ▲ 2%
Services

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Metro Center is the central hub station of the Washington Metro rapid transit system in Washington, D.C. Metro Center was one of the original Metro stations, and service began on March 27, 1976.

Metro Center is on the Blue, Orange, and Red Lines, and is a transfer station between the Red Line and the already-joined Blue and Orange Lines. It is also planned to be on the Silver Line route, which is scheduled to start operations in 2011.

Metro Center is located in downtown Washington, under an area roughly extending east–west from 11th to 13th Streets Northwest, and north–south from G to H Streets Northwest. Its entrances are on G Street at 11th, 12th, and 13th Streets, and at the corner of 12th and F Streets. The station's only street elevator is on the west side of 12th Street north of G Street. It is the second busiest station in the Metrorail system after Union Station, averaging 30,500 passengers per weekday as of May 2006^[update].^[1]

The mezzanine (upper) level of the station contains side platforms for Red Line trains traveling towards Glenmont and towards Shady Grove. Orange Line and Blue Lines trains traveling in both directions share a center platform on the station's lower level.

A Metro sales office is located on the mezzanine level of the station on the platform for Glenmont-bound Red Line trains, near the 12th and F Street entrance. The Grand Hyatt Washington is connected to Metro Center, as is downtown's only remaining department store, Macy's. During the mid-20th century, the area was the commercial heart of Washington, housing many department stores, theaters, offices, restaurants, and entertainment venues. Due to a combination of the racial disturbances associated with the 1968 riots, the opening of new suburban malls, and concentration of new commercial building near K Street–Farragut Square, the Metro Center area declined. It later successfully revived. The Shops at National Place is an adjacent two-level dining/shopping complex.

[edit] Improvements

The station is located so close to the Gallery Place–Chinatown station that the lights of each station are visible to the other through the tunnel. Plans have long been in the works to add a pedestrian tunnel to connect Gallery Place–Chinatown with Metro Center. The most recent major development was the completion of a "Gallery Place/Chinatown - Metro Center Pedestrian Passageway Tunnel Study" in July 2005.^[2]