Rosslyn Station Eyed for Expansion

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SINCE IT'S ONE OF THE DEEPEST stations in the Metrorail network, it may seem inconceivable that Rosslyn on the Blue and Orange lines could be expanded. But Arlington County and Metro are looking to add new ways to access the busy transfer station.

At its meeting on Thursday, Metro's Board of Directors approved spending $450,000 to develop a preliminary plan to add an eastern entrance for the station. The existing street-level faregates are located in the Rosslyn Metro Mall between Fort Myer Drive and N. Moore Street and are connected to the station platforms via one of Metro's longest banks of escalators. (The longest are at Wheaton on the Red Line.)

According to Metro, the proposed eastern entrance would be linked to a new underground mezzanine by three high-speed elevators and an underground passageway. Because the plans are preliminary, it's unclear how a new station entrance at Rosslyn would tie into current or planned development on the surface. New office and condo towers are either under construction or are planned for areas adjacent to the station, including what would become the region's tallest office building, which is slated for the site currently occupied by the soon-to-close Tom Sarris' Orleans House restaurant.

Last year, new street-to-station elevators opened at the Ballston station in Arlington County, which plans to eventually build a western entrance at that station near Fairfax Drive and Glebe Road, as office and residential development has pushed westward from the current station entrance at Fairfax Drive and N. Stuart Street.

» "Metro Board Allocates Design Enhancement Funds to Rosslyn Station" [WMATA]
» EARLIER: "Days Are Numbered for Rosslyn's Prime Rib Hub" [Free Ride/Express]

Map courtesy WMATA