Medical Center station (Washington Metro)

Medical Center
Washington Metro rapid transit station
Location	8810 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20814
Coordinates	38°59′57″N 77°05′52″W / 38.999067°N 77.097676°W / 38.999067; -77.097676Coordinates: 38°59′57″N 77°05′52″W / 38.999067°N 77.097676°W / 38.999067; -77.097676
Owned by	WMATA
Line(s)	Red Line
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	Ride On: 30, 33, 34, 46, 70 WMATA Metrobus: J1, J2, J3, J7, J9 NIH Bethesda Shuttles Navy Medical Center Shuttle
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Bicycle facilities	88 racks, 38 lockers
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	A10
History
Opened	August 25, 1984; 32 years ago (August 25, 1984)
Traffic
Passengers (2016)	5,468 daily   3.44%
Services
Preceding station   Washington Metro   Following station Grosvenor–Strathmore toward Shady Grove Red Line Bethesda toward Glenmont

Medical Center is an island platformed Washington Metro station in Bethesda, Maryland, United States. The station was opened on August 25, 1984, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Providing service for the Red Line, the station serves the National Institutes of Health campus and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and is located at Rockville Pike and South Drive. Since there is little retail in the area and no commuter parking lot, this station is used almost exclusively by employees of and visitors to those two institutions.

The station opened on August 25, 1984. Its opening coincided with the completion of 6.8 miles (10.9 km) of rail northwest of the Van Ness–UDC station and the opening of the Bethesda, Friendship Heights, Grosvenor and Tenleytown stations.

In September 2009, Montgomery County submitted a $20 million federal grant application to build a pedestrian tunnel under Rockville Pike to improve access to the Medical Center stop from Walter Reed Medical Center. Currently, there is only a crosswalk here, with many passengers crossing the heavily travelled street from Walter Reed on the east side of MD 355 to get to the station on the west side. Construction would have originally occurred in 2011, but the project was not approved until 2013. The project is fully funded at $68 million, mostly through the Department of Defense, and includes installation of new deep elevators, improvement of surface bicycle and pedestrian facilities, as well as an extension of the left turn lane on southbound MD 355. The project is to begin construction in the summer of 2018, and completed in 2020.

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