WMATA proposes new map; recommends renaming King Street, Waterfront, and Navy Yard
On Thursday, the WMATA Board will review a revised Metro map and proposed name changes. The interim map shows the new “Orange and Yellow Line Service Increase” and the Silver Line under construction. Jurisdictions made formal requests to change the names of 6 stations; WMATA staff recommend accepting 2 of those.
For the map, based on survey results, WMATA staff and designer Lance Wyman decided to color the Dulles line Silver, use dashed yellow and orange lines at the ends to denote rush hour-only service, and add hours of operation to the map. Different symbols for short turn stations confused riders and are gone from this version.
The recommendation would add Old Town as a subtitle to King Street, and Ballpark to Navy Yard once DC commits funding. Further, they recommend changing Waterfront-SEU to just Waterfront, not adding Arena Stage as requested. Suggested changes to Smithsonian, New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U, and Forest Glen are also on the table, but staff are not endorsing those changes.
Instead of adding Holy Cross Hospital to Forest Glen, as Montgomery County requested, staff and Wyman devised a clever solution. Just as all stations with parking will have a P in a square next to their names, stations with hospitals will get an H in a square. That includes Forest Glen as well as Foggy Bottom, Shaw, and Medical Center.
The Board will also review the recommendation to use subtitles for 12 long station names. Staff dropped Grosvenor-Strathmore from their recommended list at the request of Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett; the board could still use a subtitle for this or even all stations with points of interest like universities.
What do you think? Below are more details about all the proposed changes. As you read, you can click the radio buttons to indicate which suggestions you agree with. At the end, you can submit your recommendations to the WMATA Board.
Station renaming proposals
Metro stations can be renamed if a local jurisdiction requests a change, agrees to pay for the cost of changing signs, and the WMATA Board approves the change.
The station naming policy, adopted earlier this year, says that station names should:
- Convey a sense of place
- Use up to 19 characters, or 13 for transfer stations
- Potentially contain subtitles, but count the subtitle against the station name length
- Only mention landmarks within a short walk, if any
- Not be sold to commercial entities
Update: WMATA sent over a slightly revised version this morning that moves the 2 Farragut stations closer together, adds the parking icon to Forest Glen, and moves the U Street label. I’ve passed on the comments people made about other errors, such as “No Litering,” “Ronald Regan,” missing railroad icons and the dots on the Largo branch which should go between Orange and Blue.