Dunn Loring-Merrifield Station

Story

Dunn Loring is a Washington Metro station in Fairfax County, Virginia on the Orange Line. The station is in Merrifield, with a Vienna postal address. The station is in the median of Interstate 66 at Gallows Road, just outside the Capital Beltway, and is accessed by a footbridge over the eastbound lanes.The station opened on June 7, 1986. Its opening coincided with the completion of 9.1mi of rail west of the Ballston station and the opening of the East Falls Church, West Falls Church and Vienna stations. By 1993, officials in Fairfax City were looking to add "Merrifield" to the station name. In 1998, the station name was changed to "Dunn Loring-Merrifield". On November 3, 2011, the station returned to its original name, with "Merrifield" listed as a subtitle.Development projectIn August 2011, Mill Creek Residential Trust, in cooperation with WMATA, began development on a new mixed-use development area known as Alexan Dunn Loring. The project was required to not reduce the number of parking spaces available to Metro riders. The first completed step was to remove the existing kiss and ride area, as well as the bus bays. This area became the primary metro parking lot, while the old parking lot was built into a new parking garage. The new parking garage opened in August 2013. After the parking garage opened, construction began on the mixed-use development in the area of the temporary parking lot. Phase 1 of the mixed-use development project was scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2014. Construction was expected to be completed in 2015.