Dupont Circle station
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 16,948 entries each weekday.[2] The station parallels 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 the two closer than any other station pairs save Metro Center and Gallery Place.
Dupont Circle | |||||||||||
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2 trains servicing Dupont Circle | |||||||||||
Location | 1525 20th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 38.909499°N 77.04362°W | ||||||||||
Owned by | WMATA | ||||||||||
Platforms | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||
Connections | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||
Structure type | Underground | ||||||||||
Depth | 114 feet (35 m) | ||||||||||
Bicycle facilities | 16 racks, 12 lockers | ||||||||||
Disabled access | Yes | ||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||
Station code | A03 | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | January 17, 1977[1] | ||||||||||
Traffic | |||||||||||
Passengers (2017) | 16,948 daily[2] ![]() | ||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||
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History
![](../I/m/Dupont_Circle_Metro_Escalators.jpg)
Dupont Circle station opened on January 17, 1977, the first to open after the original stretch of the Red Line between Union Station and Farragut North.[1]. It remained the western terminus of the Red Line until December 5, 1981, upon the extension of the line to Van Ness–UDC. The south entrance was closed from February 1 to October 21, 2012, to replace all three escalators, deemed among the system's least reliable.[3][4]
In 2007, a portion of Walt Whitman's 1865 poem The Wound Dresser was inscribed into the granite wall around the north entrance escalators to honor the city's caregivers during the HIV crisis.[5]
On January 15, 2018, a train headed to Glenmont derailed outside the station. Nobody was seriously hurt.[6]
In April 2019, construction began on a station canopy for the north entrance, identical to other canopies across the system. Construction is due to be completed in spring 2020.[7] However, construction was delayed due to the contractor that was supposed to provide the custom glass panels went bankrupt.[8]
Station layout
Dupont Circle station has two tracks with side platforms, one of the only Red Line stations with this setup. This single-bore layout is required by its deep passage beneath the Connecticut Avenue NW underpass and an abandoned streetcar tunnel, now used as an art space. There are two entrances to the station. The north entrance, on the southeast corner of Q Street NW and 20th Street NW contains a set of three escalators and an elevator to reach a mezzanine and fare control at the north end of the station. Unique to the station, the edges of the escalators are trellised with plants where normally there would be granite slabs. The south entrance, located on the southern edge of Dupont Circle at 19th Street NW and Connecticut Avenue NW, has another set of three escalators to reach a separate mezzanine and fare control at the south end of the platforms. The station's north entrance escalators are 188 feet (57 m) long.[9]
G | Street level | Exit/entrance, buses |
M | Mezzanine | Fare control, ticket machines, station agent |
P Platform level |
Side platform | |
Westbound | ← ![]() | |
Eastbound | ![]() | |
Side platform |
Public Art
Walt Whitman poem
![](../I/m/Walt_Whitman_quote%2C_Dupont_Circle_Metro.jpg)
In 2007, a portion of Walt Whitman's 1865 poem The Wound Dresser was inscribed into the granite wall around the north entrance escalators to honor the city's caregivers during the HIV crisis.[10][11][12] 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…
Notable places nearby
- Aspen Institute
- Brickskeller
- Brookings Institution
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Dupont Circle
- Embassy Row
- Emerson Preparatory School
- International Temple
- Kramerbooks & Afterwords
- Middle East Institute
- Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- The Phillips Collection
- School for Ethics and Global Leadership
- Sonny Bono Memorial Park
- The Spanish Steps
- Stead Park
- St. Thomas' Parish
References
- Eisen, Jack (January 18, 1977). "Circle greets wind tunnel Metro stop". The Washington Post. p. C3.
- "Metrorail Average Weekday Passenger Boardings" (PDF). WMATA. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
- "Dupont Circle south entrance to close Wednesday, Feb. 1, for escalator replacement" (Press release). WMATA. January 30, 2012.
- "Metro completes escalator replacement project at Dupont Circle south entrance" (Press release). WMATA. October 21, 2012.
- Mathis, Sommer (June 5, 2007). "Dupont Metro gets poetry". DCist. Archived from the original on February 14, 2010. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
- Iacone, Amanda; Kelleher, Colleen (January 15, 2018). "Red Line train derails near Metro Center". WTOP. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- Giambrone, Andrew (April 15, 2019). "Dupont Circle Metro station entrance to get precipitation-shielding escalator canopy". Curbed Washington DC. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
- Graf, Heather (January 17, 2020). "Metro: Bankrupt contractor to blame for delayed escalator canopy at Dupont Circle station". WJLA. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
- Johnson, Matt (July 8, 2014). "What are the 10 longest Metro escalators?". Greater Greater Washington. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
- Mathis, Sommer (June 5, 2007). "Dupont Metro gets poetry". DCist. Archived from the original on February 14, 2010. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
- 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.
- Kelly, John (May 18, 2013). "Hark, what poem leaps from yonder Metro wall?". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 30, 2018.