Arlington has accepted an additional $20.7 million in federal and state funds as work on the new entrance to the Crystal City Metro station moves forward.
The Arlington County Board approved the hefty appropriation on Saturday. The Federal Transit Administration provided 80% of the funds, while 20% comes from the Virginia Dept. of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT).
The funding supports the addition of an east entrance to the Metro station at the northwest corner of Crystal Drive and 18th Street S. — a project that broke ground in July with expected completion in 2027.
In total, about $53 million in funding for the $146 million project — part of a package of infrastructure upgrades that helped Arlington secure Amazon’s HQ2 — has come from the federal government. Another $30 million is from the DRPT, according to a County Board report.
“This is actually continuing to fulfill our agreement that helped encourage Amazon to come here, and we keep getting benefits from that, including support to build a much-needed east entrance to a Metro station,” County Board Chair Libby Garvey said on Saturday.
The project is meant to shorten the time it takes pedestrians and bicyclists to get to a number of key locations. These include several local bus stops, a planned Amtrak and upgraded VRE station, a planned pedestrian bridge leading into Reagan National Airport, the Mount Vernon Trail and Crystal Drive bike lanes.
“Crews are preparing the work site for construction, which is expected to last three years,” a webpage for the project says.
The Crystal City Metro station is one of the busiest in Virginia, averaging over 5,500 daily entries. The project will create an above-ground entrance with a pavilion, plus a new mezzanine with stairs and elevators connecting passengers to the east end of the train platform, according to a press release.
The County Board on Saturday also approved a $5.3 million increase in the contract for design and construction of the new entrance. This did not increase the budget for the project, but was due to an error in the $122.5 million contract approved last summer, which failed to include the county-held contingency.
The forthcoming entrance is one of the largest transit projects included in Arlington’s latest 10-year Capital Improvement Plan.
Also included in the CIP is a similar $170 million project to construct a west entrance to the Ballston-MU Metro station. That project “is approaching 35% design,” according to a county webpage.
