Crystal City station is an underground Washington Metro station in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The station opened on July 1, 1977 and serves the Blue Line and Yellow Line services, with a

Metroway Metroway is a bus rapid transit (BRT) line operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) as part of their Metrobus system. It consists of a single line operating in Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia. It opened on Aug ...

bus rapid transit stop on the surface.

Station layout

The station has two

side platforms A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

in a cylindrical vault, which runs east-west under plazas on the north side of 18th Street South between

Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway The Jefferson Davis Highway, also known as the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway, was a planned transcontinental highway in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s that began in Arlington, Virginia, and extended south and west to San Diego, Cal ...

and Crystal Drive. The fare mezzanine is located above the center of the platforms. The single station entrance is on the northwest corner of 18th Street South and South Bell Street, with a bank of escalators leading to an upper mezzanine. Located outside the station vault, the upper mezzanine has direct entrances to the underground Crystal City Shops. An elevator on the northeast corner of 18th Street South and South Bell Street connects directly to the lower mezzanine; each platform has one elevator from the mezzanine. Bus stops, including a

stop served by both northbound and southbound buses, are located on South Bell Street under the 251 18th Street South building.

History

The station opened on July 1, 1977, part of the initial segment of the Blue Line between

National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport , sometimes referred to colloquially as National Airport, Washington National, Reagan National Airport, DCA, Reagan, or simply National, is an international airport in Arlington County, Virginia, across ...

and Stadium–Armory stations that opened that day. Virginia Railway Express began service in June 1992, with its Crystal City station about northeast of the Metro entrance.

bus rapid transit service began on August 24, 2014, with a stop on Bell Street adjacent to the Metro entrance.

Second entrance

An east entrance to the station was proposed in a 2002 WMATA study. Planning for the second entrance began in 2011. A 2014 study identified five possible locations for the new entrance, with locations on the northeast and northwest corners of 18th Street South and Crystal Drive preferred. In February 2019, the state committed to building the entrance as part of a package of transportation improvements for the construction of Amazon HQ2 in National Landing. In May 2019, property developer

JBG Smith JBG SMITH Properties is a publicly traded real estate investment trust based in Bethesda, Maryland. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned 62 properties and has 2 additional properties under construction, all of which are in the Washington me ...

sent an unsolicited proposal, proposing that Arlington County pay the company to act as design-build contractor for the entrance on company-owned property. The county and company signed a preliminary agreement in June 2020. Design of the second entrance reached 30% in March 2021. In March 2022, plans were changed from an underground to a surface-level fare lobby to reduce costs.

References

External links

18th Street entrance from Google Maps Street ViewCity of Arlington - Crystal City Metro Station Second Entrance
{{Washington Metro stations navbox Stations on the Blue Line (Washington Metro) Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia Transportation in Arlington County, Virginia Washington Metro stations in Virginia Stations on the Yellow Line (Washington Metro) Railway stations in the United States opened in 1977 1977 establishments in Virginia Railway stations located underground in Virginia Washington Metro stations located underground