Workers were wiring fare boxes and laying paver tiles with a sense of urgency Thursday at the Navy Yard Metrorail station. The station’s dramatically expanded west entrance – which will serve as Metro’s primary gateway to Nationals Park – is scheduled to open a week from today after 15 months of construction.
More than 24,000 people are expected to swarm the Green Line station two days later for the Nationals Sunday home opener.
Metro has added an extra staircase from the mezzanine to the platform and will convert the west entrance to one-way traffic before and after games, bringing the west entrance’s capacity from 5,000 an hour to 15,000.
The station’s east entrance will remain open for two-way traffic and can move an additional 5,000 people an hour, officials said.
While the west entrance still looks very much like a construction zone, officials said it will be ready on time.
“We’ll be 99.5% complete,” capital projects director John Thomas said, noting that minor aesthetic touches might not be completed. “There won’t be anything that will affect the operation of the station.”
Despite the expansion, Metro is still banking on fans staggering their arrivals to and departures from the games, and officials warn that platforms will be packed tight on game days.
Operators may hold arriving trains for 30 seconds or more before opening the doors to allow the passengers from previous trains to clear the platform – the same tactic that was used at the Stadium Armory station during Nationals games at RFK stadium.
Savvy riders will likely walk past the long lines for the platform escalators and head to the stairs instead, officials said.
They might also forego the west entrance altogether and exit through the east one, which lets passengers out about a block further from the stadium.
“The regulars will figure that out after two or three times,” Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said.
