Potomac Yard Metro Has Tentative Opening Date In 2023

ALEXANDRIA, VA — After delays, Potomac Yard Metro has a tentative opening date: May 2023.

Metro announced the anticipated opening date Tuesday for the new station on the Blue and Yellow Line in Alexandria between the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Braddock Road stations. The station will be in the growing Potomac Yard neighborhood, where Virginia Tech's Innovation Campus is being constructed.

"We are excited to have an opening in sight for Potomac Yard Station," said Metro General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke in a statement. "Our team, the City of Alexandria, and contractors are working hard to complete the station and we look forward to providing new transit service to this rapidly developing area."

Metro had previously announced the station would not open in 2022. Mayor Justin Wilson, who earlier called Metro's delays in opening the Potomac Yard station "unacceptable," responded to the potential opening date in a tweet.

"This has been a long-time coming, with far more delay than we would like, but it is exciting that Metrorail will be arriving in Potomac Yard in the Spring!" Wilson tweeted.

Station construction is 90 percent complete, Metro said in a news release. Work to tie in the new station with existing tracks finished on Nov. 5, and six Blue and Yellow Line stations closed for that work reopened on Nov. 6. The first test train went through the station in late October, and trains are now passing through the station without stopping.

Before service begins at the new Potomac Yard station, Metro and its contractor must finish station construction, work on safety reviews and train staff.

The new station will provide added public transit options in the northeast area of the city, particularly for new development being added to the Potomac Yard neighborhood. New development is helping fund the new station, as well as state grants, loans and regional funding sources.