Rosslyn is the westernmost station on the shared segment of the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines of the Washington Metro. It is located in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, United States. Rosslyn is the first station in Virginia heading westward from the District on the Orange and Silver Lines and southward on the Blue Lines. It is one of four interchange points on the Metrorail system west of the Potomac River and located in a growing business district. Depending on the year, Rosslyn is the busiest, or one of the busiest stations outside the District of Columbia, along with and, which are also in Arlington. Rosslyn is the biggest choke point of the Metro system. Due to this, planners are considering adding another station in the Rosslyn neighborhood, possibly as part of an inner loop through Washington and Arlington.
The station opened on July 1, 1977. Its opening coincided with the completion of of rail between National Airport and RFK Stadium and the opening of the,,,,,,,,, McPherson Square,,,,, and stations. Orange Line service to the station began upon the line's opening on November 20, 1978.
Station layout
Rosslyn is one of two stations at which westbound trains serve a platform that is a level below the mezzanine-level platform for eastbound trains. This allows for trains to converge inbound and diverge outbound via a flying junction to avoid an at-grade crossing. Since the neighborhood is on a bluff over the Potomac River and the shared rail line into Washington passes through a rock-bored tunnel, Rosslyn is deep: the deepest on the three lines servicing it. It is the second deepest station in the system, behind only. The upper platform is below street level; the lower platform is another below that. An escalator ride between the street and mezzanine levels takes about three minutes. It is one of three stations on the Metro with platform-level fare gates and elevators. A new bank of three high-speed elevators and an expanded mezzanine opened officially on October 7, 2013. It replaces the original single street elevator, cutting elevator transit time from about a minute to about 17 seconds. The underground hallway to the new elevator bank contains a four-coffered arch like most underground stops on the Red Line that were opened after 1980. This is the only stop on the Blue, Orange, and Silver Lines with this arch. It is also the only stop in the system that contains both the waffle and four-coffer arch design.
