Dunkin' Donuts Friendship Heights Metro station construction update (Photos)

The new Dunkin' Donuts in the bus bays at the Friendship Heights Metro station in Chevy Chase appears to be on-schedule for a late-summer opening. Virtually all of the kitchen equipment is installed. The Premium Pours tap system is visible in the tiny building, which is essentially a glorified kiosk with ordering and pickup windows. "It's (almost) time to make the donuts!"

Tiny Dunkin' Donuts to open in Friendship Heights Metro station bus bays area

A tiny Dunkin' Donuts store is being constructed in the bus bays area of the Friendship Heights Metro station. The shop has a takeout window, and is just feet away from buses arriving and departing from the station. Dunkin' Donuts opened a more-traditional storefront at the Bethesda Metro Center, in the former Clark Building, just over a decade ago in February of 2014. Remember, no eating or drinking on Metro!

Friendship Heights Metro station renovations update (Photos)

Metrobus and Ride On buses returned to their regularly-assigned stops at the Friendship Heights Metro station bus bays yesterday, according to Metro. But this is how the scene looked just hours before the scheduled reopening Friday evening. Affected bus routes were forced to temporary relocate around Wisconsin Circle during renovation of the bus bay area, which began mid-summer. Will the roof still leak water and ice during winter? Metro's Paul Wiedefeld wasn't available for comment, laughing his way to the bank with his 9% raise, despite declining ridership and a record of failure.

The escalator replacement at the station continues as well. It has taken so long, someone appears to have tried to turn the "8" at the end of 2018 on the sign into a 9.

Escalator madness at Friendship Heights Metro station (Photos)

Escalator "modernization" continues at the Metro station with one of the longest escalator outages in Metro history, Friendship Heights. WMATA says they currently expect the Western Avenue bus bays-to-middle landing escalator to be back in service on December 30 of this year. The longer escalator between the middle landing and the mezzanine is expected to reopen on July 18. Stay tuned!

WMATA to replace escalators at Bethesda Medical Center, Friendship Heights Metro stations

Friendship Heights Metro station,
ugly new ahistorical lighting
and all

Metro will be replacing more of the original, aging escalators at Red Line stations in Bethesda and Chevy Chase. A similar project was just completed at the Bethesda Metro station. Now, commuters who use the Medical Center and Friendship Heights stations will be getting an upgrade.

Both stations opened on August 25, 1984, and their escalators are just as old. WMATA will any day now begin replacing 3 long entrance escalators at the Friendship Heights station, and the last-remaining original bus bay-to-landing short escalator. At Medical Center, contractor KONE will also replace the 3 long entrance escalators. Medical Center's are 202' long, while the entrance escalators at Friendship Heights are only 130' long.

The work means one escalator will be out of service at all times, at both stations, over the next two-and-a-half years. Elevators will remain open at both, and escalator technicians will be standing by at both stations at all times, in case any of the escalators in service break down. Should escalator capacity or station overcrowding issues arise, both stations could temporarily shut down, and be bypassed by trains until the situation is resolved. WMATA recommends riders sign up for MetroAlerts so they will know if either station is closed.

Wisconsin Circle lane closure to affect traffic, buses in Friendship Heights Fri./Sat.

Wisconsin Circle will be closed west-to-east this weekend from 8:00 PM Friday night, November 11, until 12:00 noon Saturday afternoon for construction. Not only will this eastbound lane be closed to vehicles between Wisconsin Avenue and Western Avenue, but some bus routes at the Friendship Heights Metro station will be affected.

The venerable L8 Metrobus will depart its bay at Friendship Heights, and take a left turn from Wisconsin Avenue onto Willard Avenue. It will then take Friendship Boulevard back to Western Avenue, and continue on to Aspen Hill as normal. This will end when the lane reopens at noon Saturday.

The T2 Metrobus will divert from Willard Avenue to Western and Wisconsin via Friendship Boulevard, and use the L8 bus bay until noon Saturday.

Ride On Routes 29 and 34 will make similar detours until noon on Saturday. The Metro station will remain open throughout the lane closure.

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.

Friendship Heights Metro escalator reopening delayed - again! (Photos) #WMATA #DC

Is anybody believing WMATA apologist Dr. Gridlock's prediction that this year will be the one Metro turns it around? Not if they needed to ride a subway or bus earlier this week after the storm. And certainly not if they use the Friendship Heights Metro station.

The Western Avenue/Wisconsin Circle bus bays-to-middle-landing escalator at the station has been out of service for literally years now, during the world's longest modernization project. It was originally scheduled to reopen on July 19, 2014.

That date came and went. So did another. And another. And...well, you get the picture.

Now we have another postponement. And other another date.

July 2016. A full two years after the original reopening date.

Place your bets.

Friendship Heights Metro escalator update (Photos)

While much attention has been taken up by the disastrous start for the new escalator at the Bethesda Metro station (multiple shutdowns by the multi-million dollar, brand new escalator), another escalator project at the Friendship Heights Metro station continues to lag behind schedule.

The most recent opening projection was June. Now Metro is saying October. Will it run when it opens? The existing escalators here were installed in 1984.