Metro is on track with its Dupont Circle escalator replacement project, the agency said Friday after starting to demolish and remove the last old escalator.
The transit agency has had the south entrance closed of the busy Red Line station since February to replace three escalators there with all new equipment. It plans to reopen the entrance in October, the agency reiterated Friday.
Removing the third escalator is a major milestone, according to the agency, that will allow it to add the remaining two new staircases. One new escalator is already in place, ready to serve as an emergency staircase if needed.
The old escalators there had been a hassle for riders and the agency alike as they were sixth longest in the system and broke down frequently.
But the agency has had a challenge in replacing them as crews are not taking off the street-level canopy as they do the work and also need to rebuild the girding beneath the 188-foot-long moving staircases.
The agency added new escalators at Foggy Bottom last last year in the first replacement in over a decade. Now the agency plans on replacing 94 escalators, including those at Bethesda, over the next seven years.
