Rosslyn station explained

Rosslyn
Style:WMATA
Symbol:orange
Symbol2:silver
Symbol3:blue
Symbol Location:washington
Address:1850 North Moore Street
Borough:Rosslyn, Virginia
Coordinates:38.896°N -77.0718°W
Platform:2 split platforms (1 on each level)
Tracks:2 (1 on each level)
Levels:2
Structure:Underground
Depth: (upper level)
(lower level)[1] [2] [3]
Bicycle:Capital Bikeshare, 20 racks
Pass Year:2023
Passengers:5,941 daily[4]
Pass Rank:11 out of 98
Accessible:yes
Code:C05
Owned:Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Custom:
Shape:none
Line:none
Marker:rail-metro
Marker-Color:
  1. 000
Zoom:15

Rosslyn station is the westernmost station on the shared segment of the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines of the Washington Metro. It is located in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia. Rosslyn is the first station in Virginia heading westward from Washington, D.C. on the Orange and Silver Lines and southward on the Blue Line. It is one of four interchange points on the Metrorail system west of the Potomac River and located in a growing business district.

Averaging 5,941 daily tapped entries in 2023, Rosslyn is the 11th-busiest station in the Metro system and the busiest station located outside of Washington, D.C. Rosslyn is the biggest choke point of the Metro system. Due to this, planners are considering adding another station in the Rosslyn neighborhood, possibly as part of an inner loop through Washington and Arlington.[5]

Station layout

The station has entrances on the west side of North Moore Street between Wilson Boulevard and 19th Street North and on the east side of Fort Myer Drive between Wilson Boulevard and 19th Street North. A bank of three high-speed street elevators to the mezzanine (upper) level of the station is on the east side of North Moore Street, across the street from the station entrance. The station is a stop for several express Metrobus lines.

Rosslyn is one of two stations (the other being the Pentagon station) at which trains going one direction are boarded on a different station level than trains going the other direction, as a way to prevent an at-grade crossing. This is because the Orange/Silver and Blue lines split apart an extremely short distance from the station.[6] This ensures that no trains traveling in opposite directions share a track.[7]

Rosslyn is the deepest station on the three lines servicing it. The mezzanine and upper platform are below the Fort Myer Drive street-level entrance; the lower platform is below the entrance.[8] [9] [10] This is because its neighborhood is on a bluff over the Potomac River, while its shared rail line into Washington passes through a rock-bored tunnel up to 101feet[11] beneath the river surface. The station's depth also takes advantage of the strength and watertightness of the bedrock below the surface.[12] An escalator ride between the street and mezzanine levels takes about three minutes.[13]

It is one of nine stations on the Metro with platform-level fare gates and elevators (the other eight being the, Ballston–MU station,,,, (eastbound only),, and stations). A new bank of three high-speed elevators and an expanded mezzanine opened officially on October 7, 2013.[14] It replaces the original single street elevator, cutting elevator transit time from about a minute to about 17 seconds. The separate accessible and general entrances are a relative rarity in the Washington Metro system; only and stations share this feature. The underground hallway to the new elevator bank contains a four-coffered arch like most underground stops on the Red Line that were opened after 1980. This is the only stop on the Blue, Orange, and Silver Lines with this arch. It is also the only stop in the system that contains both the waffle and four-coffer arch design.

An indicator sign at the south end of the station flashes to inform passengers of the arriving train's destination, showing Orange for, Blue for, and Silver for . This feature is only used at final transfer stations; another example being .

History

The station opened on July 1, 1977. Its opening coincided with the completion of 11.8miles[15] of rail between National Airport and RFK Stadium and the opening of the,,,,,,,,, McPherson Square,,,,, and stations. Orange Line service to the station began upon the line's opening on November 20, 1978.

Notes and References

  1. News: Darling . Lynn . An Effect of Metro . 6 February 2021 . The Washington Post . 1977-07-03.
  2. Book: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments . Metrorail Station Area Planning: A Metrorail before-and-After Study Report . August 1983 . 72 . 6 February 2021.
  3. Rosslyn Magazine: Discover A New Horizon, Vol. 1, Issue 2, Summer 2006, p. 21.
  4. Web site: Metrorail Ridership Summary . Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority . January 10, 2024.
  5. News: Metro considers building 'inner loop' of new stations to ease congestion in system's core. The Washington Post.
  6. Web site: Rosslyn Station New Entrance Study . WMATA . March 2007 . April 3, 2009.
  7. News: Eisen . Jack . Metro Trip Hits a Low Point: New Line Under Potomac Dips 97 Feet at Rosslyn Metro Line Under River Dips 97 Feet at Rosslyn . 11 February 2021 . The Washington Post . 1977-01-07. .
  8. Rosslyn Magazine: Discover A New Horizon, Vol. 1, Issue 2, Summer 2006, p. 21.
  9. News: Darling . Lynn . An Effect of Metro . 6 February 2021 . The Washington Post . 1977-07-03.
  10. Book: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments . Metrorail Station Area Planning: A Metrorail before-and-After Study Report . August 1983 . 72 . 6 February 2021.
  11. News: Eisen . Jack . Metro Trip Hits a Low Point: New Line Under Potomac Dips 97 Feet at Rosslyn Metro Line Under River Dips 97 Feet at Rosslyn . 11 February 2021 . The Washington Post . 1977-01-07. .
  12. News: Darling . Lynn . An Effect of Metro . 6 February 2021 . The Washington Post . 1977-07-03.
  13. Rosslyn Magazine: Discover A New Horizon, Vol. 1, Issue 2, Summer 2006, p. 21.
  14. http://news.arlingtonva.us/releases/arlington-county-unveils-new-rosslyn-metro-entrance Arlington County news release 10/7/2013
  15. Web site: Sequence of Metrorail openings . 2017 . WMATA . 3 . April 25, 2018.