East Falls Church is an island-platformed

Washington Metro The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,Google Books search/preview

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

in Arlington,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

on the

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

and

Silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

Lines. East Falls Church station is the last aboveground, at grade, or open cut station for eastbound trains. East of this station, the trains enter the subway. The station serves the communities of

Falls Church Falls Church is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Washington metropolitan area. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Churc ...

and Arlington, Virginia and is located in the

median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...

Interstate 66 Interstate 66 (I-66) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It runs from an interchange with I-81 near Middletown, Virginia, on its western end to an interchange with U.S. Route 29 (US 29) in Washingt ...

near

Lee Highway The Lee Highway was a national auto trail in the United States, connecting New York City and San Francisco, California, via the South and Southwest. After receiving a letter on January 15, 1919, from Dr. Samuel Myrtle Johnson of Roswell, New Mex ...

(

U.S. Route 29 U.S. Route 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States highway that runs for from Pensacola, Florida to the western suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland in the Southern United States, connecting the Florida Panhandle to the Baltimore-Washington me ...

). Service began on June 7, 1986. East Falls Church has a parking lot with 422 spaces on the Lee Highway side of the station.

Transit-oriented development

Of the six stations on the Orange Line in Arlington, East Falls Church has the least

transit-oriented development In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport. It promotes a symbiotic relationship between ...

. Unlike the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, East Falls Church station is located in the median of

, posing pedestrian access issues.

Arlington County Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

is currently considering plans to develop the site.

History

The station opened on June 7, 1986, as part of the final westward extension of the Orange Line to Vienna. Its opening coincided with the completion of of rail west of the Ballston station and the opening of the West Falls Church,

Dunn Loring Dunn Loring is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 8,803 at the 2010 census. The area borders Merrifield, Vienna, and Tysons.Dunn Loring is in the Metropolitan Area and is a suburban area ...

, and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

stations. The Silver Line began service on July 26, 2014, resulting in East Falls Church becoming the final transfer point before its split with the Orange Line. In May 2018, Metro announced an extensive renovation of platforms at twenty stations across the system. The platform at the East Falls Church station would be rebuilt starting in early 2021. However, due to low ridership caused by the

2020 coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, platform reconstruction began one year early, and is currently under construction along with other maintenance and repair projects on all stations to the west. This station was one of 19 WMATA stations closed due to the

. The station was further closed due to the platform reconstruction and Silver Line phase two tie-in projects which closed stations west of

Ballston–MU station Ballston–MU is a side-platformed Washington Metro station in Arlington County, Virginia, United States. The station opened on December 1, 1979, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The station serves ...

. Shuttle buses began serving the station on June 28, 2020. Trains began bypassing the station on August 16, 2020 when work was nearly done. The station was reopened on August 23, 2020.

Station layout

Similar to all stations within the Interstate 66 median apart from West Falls Church, East Falls Church utilizes a simple island platform setup with two tracks. There is an exit in the central part of the platform that leads to a mezzanine on the western side of North Sycamore Street. The station's parking lot and bus bays are located to the north of this exit at the southwestern corner of the intersection of North Sycamore Street and North Washington Boulevard.

References

External links

* * The Schumin Web Transit Center
East Falls Church Station

Sycamore Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{Coord, 38.886038, -77.156531, region:US_type:railwaystation, display=title 1986 establishments in Virginia Stations on the Orange Line (Washington Metro) Railway stations in the United States opened in 1986 Stations on the Silver Line (Washington Metro) Transportation in Arlington County, Virginia Washington Metro stations in Virginia Bus stations in Virginia Washington Metro stations located above ground Railway stations in highway medians