County officials have wanted to add a new entrance to the Rosslyn Metro station since 2002, when the idea was first added to the capital improvement program. Since then, ridership has been steadily increasing — rising 23 percent in the last decade. Yet unless $15 million worth of stimulus money is awarded, county officials say, ridership growth will create a bottleneck at one of the region’s most important transfer points between Virginia and Washington. A ruling on the application is expected in the next two months for the $15-million grant, which is the most expensive stimulus project that has yet to be determined.

"Having the $15 million will allow us to move forward with the project instead of having to try to find somewhere else to pull the money," said Brian Stout, federal liaison for the county. "It will also let us avoid taking on new debt."

In September, county officials submitted a $15-million stimulus application for a program known as the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, which is operated by the United States Department of Transportation. If the TIGER discretionary grant is awarded, the $15 million in stimulus money would supplement $27 million of existing local, state and federal funds in addition to a $5 million contribution by two developers. That puts the total price tag for the Rosslyn Station access improvements at $42 million, an estimate that includes the cost of design, construction and management of the project.

"The new Metrorail station entrance and its three high-speed, high-capacity elevators and fare collection area will enhance the area in and around the station by contributing positively to the throughput of passengers boarding and alighting at Rosslyn," wrote Andrew VanHorn, vice president at the JBG Companies.

THE ROSSLYN STATION originally opened in 1977, and has not been upgraded since that time. From the street level mezzanine, customers travel 200 feet on one of four escalators to access the upper platform level in the train room structure located below North Lynn Street. Customers accessing the station from the one street elevator located across North Moore Street from the escalators must use one fare gate on the platform level. The station has only one set of emergency stairs from the upper platform level at the north end of the train room to the street level.

Ridership data indicate the station has experienced a dramatic increase of use in recent years, with the existing facility struggling to meet the demand. Statistics from 2006 indicate 16,770 boardings on an average weekday, the ninth highest number of station boardings in the Metro system and the highest outside the District of Columbia. In October 2007, the number of daily boardings was 17,697 — an increase of 5.5 percent over the previous year. Then 2008, the average number of passengers entering and exiting the station on a daily basis was 35,784.

"Without these improvements, the Rosslyn station will not be able to accommodate all the forecasted growth," according to the county’s application for stimulus money. "The station is rapidly reaching capacity and without expansion will not be able to accommodate additional riders, which would critically damage Rosslyn’s economic competitiveness."

IN MAY 2007, the Arlington County Board approved a site plan for improvements to the station, including a new entrance concept plan consisting of three new elevators, a mezzanine at the train platform and emergency stairs from the train platform to the street. But market forces have prompted JBG Companies to delay a project known as Rosslyn Central Place, leading to a delay of the Metro improvements because the County Board approved the development with the understanding that the new entrance to the Rosslyn Metro station would be constructed and opened by the date that the office building of Rosslyn Central Place opens. As a result, county officials say, the stimulus money is needed to move forward with the new Metro entrance independently of Central Place. Excavation is set to begin next spring.

"The Rosslyn Metrorail station is one of the busiest transfer points in the Metrorail system and the heaviest used one outside the District of Columbia," wrote Rosslyn Business Improvement District Executive Director Cecilia Cassidy in a letter supporting the grant application. "The new entrance will provide an improvement to pedestrian safety on North Monroe Street and meet accessibility needs through the availability of redundant elevators."