Location
Washington, DC
Status
2012
Client
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Cost
20 Million Dollars
The Union Station Metro already handles the largest number of patrons in Washington, DC and additional patrons (expected with the addition of Intercity Bus facilities, the H Street Light-rail, Amtrak / MARC expansion, the new Bicycle Transit Center, and housing and office development in the air-rights over Amtrak) will only further burden the existing station access points. To handle the new crowds, access to the Metro Station must be expanded, but this expansion is complicated by the variety of stakeholders involved in the decision process. The study has identified three areas for expansion: the currently unused H Street Passageway, the existing North Mezzanine and the existing South Mezzanine.
At H Street, the study provides for the creation of a new entrance by completing an existing pedestrian passageway to an existing tunnel under H Street (currently abandoned). The Study plan locates a temporary light rail station in the newly reopened tunnel, at the end of the pedestrian passageway along with vertical access consisting of three elevators and a public stair connecting the passage to the H Street Bridge above. The shaft created by the vertical circulation elements will allow light to filter from the H Street level to the passageway level through the use of a structural glass ceiling creating a translucent walking surface on the H Street level. The vertical circulation will connect to new development along H Street and the Parking Garage housing the new Intercity Bus Terminal.
At the North Metro Entrance the passage will be opened into the existing mezzanine and new elevators will be located in the passage connecting to the Union Station Concourse/Amtrak/MARC and up to the garage and Intercity Bus Terminal. Escalators will also be¬¬¬¬ added to connect to the bus and Amtrak. In addition a new stair and escalator will connect from the Metro Mezzanine to the Concourse. Within the Mezzanine, new elevators will connect to the platform and the old elevator will be replaced with a stair. Openings added to the wall along First Street will allow more direct access into the mezzanine and give the entrance a more public face. At the South Entrance, new elevators will connect platform-to-mezzanine and mezzanine-to-street. A ramp will replace the existing stairs into the food court.