Branch Avenue Station

Story

Branch Avenue is an island-platformed Washington Metro station in Suitland, Maryland, United States. The station was opened on January 13, 2001, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The station presently serves as the southeastern terminus for the Green Line, with the Branch Avenue rail yard lying just beyond this station. The station is located near the intersection of Auth Road and Old Soper Road.Constructed adjacent to the station is a 37acre rail yard with the capacity to store 116 cars.This is also the station closest to Andrews Air Force Base.HistoryPlans for a station as the southeastern terminus of the Green Line initially appeared in the original 1968 route map. However, by 1978 the Prince George's County Council, after initially supporting the Branch Avenue alignment, changed their support to moving the terminus to a location adjacent to the Rosecroft Raceway. Metro would follow suit and pursue the Rosecroft alignment instead of Branch Avenue in 1980. By May a group of citizens filed suit against Metro stating that the route was improperly changed and failed to conform to the plan adopted by county voters in 1968. In February 1981, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in stating the routing to Rosecroft could not be undertaken until it went through public review. After further appeal, in March 1982 the judge ruled that none of the proposed Green Line along the Rosecroft alignment could start construction until it went through the entire planning process again. After deciding to not file an appeal, in December 1984 Metro voted to change the southeastern terminus back to Branch Avenue thus allowing for construction to commence on the Green Line towards Prince George's County.