Long-delayed Friendship Heights Metro escalator now scheduled to reopen July 8 (Photos)

Metro's Safe Track project is getting all the attention these days, but one project that's dragged on since February 2014 at the Friendship Heights station may be near completion. The escalator installed between the bus bays and underground landing level in 1984 is being modernized. WMATA is now saying the finished product will open July 8.

Of course, they previously said it would reopen on July 19, 2014. And October 31, 2014. And November 2014. And October 2015. And December 22, 2015.

But I can report that there is indeed a new-looking escalator behind the wall there now, even though there are still signs of work being done around it. You can see some of the gleaming metal evidence in the photos here.