Bethesda station
Bethesda is a rapid transit station on the Red Line of the Washington Metro system in Bethesda, Maryland. It is one of the busiest suburban Metro stations, serving on average 9,142 passengers each weekday in 2017. The Purple Line, currently under construction, will terminate at Bethesda, providing rail service to other inner Maryland suburbs such as Silver Spring and College Park, each of which has additional north-south connections by Washington Metro, and New Carrollton, which has Amtrak and MARC connections to both Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Location. Located at the center of the area's central business  district, Bethesda station lies underneath Wisconsin Avenue at its intersection with Montgomery Avenue. In the direction of Shady Grove, it is the first station wholly within Montgomery County, as Friendship Heights straddles the border between Maryland and Washington, D.C. History. The station opened on August 25, 1984. Its opening coincided with the completion of of rail northwest of the Van Ness–UDC station and the opening of the Friendship Heights, Grosvenor, Medical Center and Tenleytown stations. In October 2014, the replacement of the first of three entrance escalators at the station began. The escalator site preparation, demolition, construction, installation and  testing was projected to take approximately 42 weeks to complete. The $8.4 million project was completed on March 22, 2017. The station's construction has been a major boon to the area, with several office buildings being built on (in the Bethesda Metro Center complex) and around it. Station layout. Like the other 10 stations in the system constructed with rock tunneling, Bethesda station is deep underground. Its platform is more than below the street level. Prior to the opening of the Wheaton station, the Bethesda station had the longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere, at , with a rise  of . The main escalators descending to the station are located on the west side of Wisconsin Avenue, adjacent to the station's underground bus bays. A Metro-style tunnel connects passengers to the southeast corner of Wisconsin and Old Georgetown Road. Within the station, a mezzanine provides fare control and access to the station's island platform. From January 17, 2022 to October 1, 2022, the Bethesda Plaza entrance stairs will be replaced from an escalator that leads from the bus station to street. A canopy is not approved due to the project. A new southern entrance will allow for  connections to the Purple Line on the surface.