Dupont Circle station

Dupont Circle Red Line

Washington Metro rapid transit station
Location 1525 20th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Coordinates 38°54′34″N 77°02′37″W / 38.909499°N 77.04362°W / 38.909499; -77.04362Coordinates: 38°54′34″N 77°02′37″W / 38.909499°N 77.04362°W / 38.909499; -77.04362
Owned by WMATA
Line(s) Red Line Red Line
Platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks 2
Connections Metrobus: 37, 42, D1, D3, D6, G2, H1, L1, N2, N4, N6
DC Circulator
Georgetown University Shuttle
Construction
Structure type Underground
Bicycle facilities 16 racks, 12 lockers
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Station code A03
History
Opened January 17, 1977 (1977-01-17)[1]
Traffic
Passengers (2015) 20,415 daily [2] Decrease 2.27%
Services
Preceding station   Washington Metro   Following station
toward Shady Grove
Red Line
toward Glenmont

Dupont Circle is a station on the Red Line of the Washington Metro in Washington, D.C. Located below the circle of the same name, it is one of the busiest stations in the Metro system, with an average of 22,721 entries each weekday.[3]

Location

Dupont Circle station lies underneath the circle of the same name with an alignment directly under Connecticut Avenue NW between the southern edge of the circle to the south and Q Street NW to the north. The station's southernmost point is slightly more than two-and-a-half blocks north of Farragut North, making them two of the closest Metro stations (although Metro Center and Gallery Place are the closest in the system).

Notable places nearby

History

With service beginning on January 17, 1977, Dupont Circle station was the first station to open after the original stretch of the Red Line between Union Station and Farragut North.[1] The station remained the western terminus of the Red Line until December 5, 1981, upon the extension of the line to Van Ness–UDC. On February 1, 2012, WMATA closed the southern entrance of the Metro station for at least 8 months to replace all three escalators that were deemed as some of the least reliable in the entire system.[4][5] The south entrance reopened on October 21, 2012.[6]

Station layout

G Street Level Exit/ Entrance
P
Platform level		 Side platform, doors will open on the right
Westbound ← Red Line Red Line toward Shady Grove (Woodley Park)
Eastbound → Red Line Red Line toward Glenmont (Farragut North) →
Side platform, doors will open on the right

Dupont Circle station has two tracks with two side platforms; it is the last station heading west on the Red Line with this setup. Such a layout is required due to the depth of the station; its location below not only the Connecticut Avenue NW underpass but also an abandoned streetcar tunnel necessitated a single-bore tunnel to carry both tracks.

There are two entrances to Dupont Circle: one to the north on the south side of Q Street NW between Connecticut Avenue NW and 20th Street NW (closer to 20th Street NW), and one to the south on the southern edge of Dupont Circle between 19th Street NW and Connecticut Avenue NW (closer to 19th Street NW). Due to the station's depth, the station's north entrance escalators are 188 feet (57 m) long.[7]

Walt Whitman poem

In 2007, a portion of Walt Whitman's 1865 poem The Wound Dresser was inscribed into the granite wall around the north entrance escalators.[8][9] It reads:

    Thus in silence in dreams’ projections,
    Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals;
    The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
    I sit by the restless all the dark night – some are so young;
    Some suffer so much – I recall the experience sweet and sad…

References

  1. 1 2 Eisen, Jack (January 18, 1977). "Circle greets wind tunnel Metro stop". The Washington Post. p. C3.
  2. ↑ "Metrorail Average Weekday Passenger Boardings" (PDF). WMATA. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  3. ↑ FY 2011 rail ridership by station WMATA Retrieved 2012-05-09
  4. ↑ "Dupont Circle south entrance closure". WMATA. January 7, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Dupont Circle south entrance to close Wednesday, Feb. 1, for escalator replacement" (Press release). WMATA. January 30, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Metro completes escalator replacement project at Dupont Circle south entrance" (Press release). WMATA. October 21, 2012.
  7. ↑ Karush, Sarah. 'Friday the 13th' blackout hits nation's capital. Associated Press. The Baltimore Sun. 2008-06-13. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  8. ↑ Mathis, Sommer (2007-06-05). "Dupont Metro gets poetry". DCist. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
  9. ↑ Peck, Garrett (2015). Walt Whitman in Washington, D.C.: The Civil War and America’s Great Poet. Charleston, SC: The History Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-1626199736.
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