Notice anything different about the Van Ness Metro station?
WMATA told us Friday that the stairs at the closed west entrance would reopen today, and remain open for the next four to five months. The entrance will close again in February or March.
Metro is replacing the three long escalators inside the station, and the shorter one at the west entrance.
Metro contractor KONE was in the process of removing this escalator when this photo was taken in August 2015. (WMATA photo)
The west entrance closed in June so it could be used to move parts of the first long escalator out of the station and bring new sections in. The entrance will remain open while installation work is under way. Once that’s done, the entrance will close again and work will begin on a second escalator. WMATA’s latest press release offers a more detailed timeline.
- Stairs open – October 19 through February/March 2016
- First new escalator in service – February/March 2016
- Stairs close February/March until May 2016
- Stairs open May through November 2016
- Second new escalator in service – November 2016
- Stairs close November 2016 through January 2017
- Stairs open Spring 2017 for remainder of project
- Third new escalator in service – August 2017
Metro also says the three-year project is on schedule so far. If it remains so, the west entrance will be closed just eight to nine months of those three years, including the four months since it first closed in June.
If this had been Metro’s intention all along, it certainly was not communicated in its initial announcement, made just two weeks before work was originally scheduled to begin. Metro intended to start on May 4th, but after our Advisory Neighborhood Commission and other community leaders pushed back about pedestrian safety concerns, the project did not start until late June.
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marchesa says
It was glorious to walk outside on a sunny cool Monday morning, cross Connecticut once, and find the Van Ness metro stairs on the west side entrance open for riders to use! And still find them open returning home from work tonight! It takes relatively little at this point to make a positive difference and opening these stairs definitely will do that.
Green Eyeshades says
The new escalator at Van Ness appears to be finished. All of the treads are installed, the entire escalator was in motion Monday morning operating as if normal, but still locked behind the closed wooden door. One of the engineers working on the escalator said it was being inspected Monday and that the inspection would be finished some time this week. Today, Wednesday, the wooden door was unlocked and open and the escalator appeared to be ready for passengers, but it was not moving. Escalator engineers were not on the scene at the top of the escalator.
With the luck our neighborhood has with the bureaucracy at Metro and at Clark Construction, we will probably see Metro reopen that escalator before the east side sidewalk is reopened in front of the Park Van Ness construction site. Then Metro will start lobbying or warning us that it plans to close the west side Van Ness entrance again. Before we have our east side sidewalk reopened.
Green Eyeshades says
It takes a few extra clicks on Metro’s “advisories” pages to find this schedule for escalator replacements at the Van Ness Metro stop, but this was the alleged schedule as of Oct. 16, 2015:
Stairs open – October 19 through February/March 2016
First new escalator in service – February/March 2016
Stairs close February/March until May 2016
Stairs open May through November 2016
Second new escalator in service – November 2016
Stairs close November 2016 through January 2017
Stairs open Spring 2017 for remainder of project
Third new escalator in service – August 2017
Metro’s advisory was completely ambiguous about what will happen between now (Feb. 10) and the end of March 2016. It’s time for a new update from Metro.
Tracy J. says
ANC 3F is expecting to get an update from WMATA reps at its February 23rd meeting. At another meeting (December, I think), one of the commissioners said Metro’s contractor was aiming for a late February/early March closure.
Tracy J. says
Isn’t that the same schedule as the one in the post?
Green Eyeshades says
The first new escalator at the Van Ness Metro station was made available for passengers to use on Wednesday evening, February 10. Metro posted no signage in the station explaining the reopening of that escalator, and provided no update on its website regarding the schedule for replacement of the other two escalators.
Tracy J. says
Thanks for the update. I was halfway up the new escalator last night before I realized. It was blocked off to commuters this morning, however.
All, WMATA is scheduled to send reps to the ANC 3F meeting Feb. 23rd. If you want an up-to-the-minute update on the escalators, plan to attend or tune into the livestream at https://livestream.com/anc-3f.
Green Eyeshades says
Correction to my comment on Friday morning, February 12. On Friday afternoon, signs were plastered all over the tunnel area at the top of the escalators at the Van Ness station announcing that Metro would close the west entrance stairs at Van Ness again on February 29.
So it seems to be coming true that the west entrance will again be closed while the east sidewalk is still closed for two blocks from Albemarle to Windom (in front of Park Van Ness).