L'Enfant Plaza (Washington Metro)

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This article describes the Washington Metro station. For the physical plaza, see L'Enfant Plaza.

L'Enfant Plaza is a Washington Metro station in Washington, D.C. served by the Blue, Green, Orange, and Yellow Lines. It is a transfer station with the Blue and Orange lines on the lower level, crossed by the Yellow and Green lines on the upper level. It is also where the Yellow and Green lines converge going north. It is the only station in the system to be served by four lines; when the Silver Line begins service in 2011, it will be the only station in the system to be served by five lines.

The station is located in Southwest, with entrances at the L'Enfant Plaza mall concourse at 9th and D Streets, on D Street between 6th and 7th Streets, at Maryland Avenue and 7th Street, and in the courtyard of the Department of Transportation building. It is in the center of an area crowded with federal buildings, and is a transfer station to easily cross the Potomac between Virginia and central Washington, making it a very busy station. Service began on the Blue and Orange level on July 1, 1977, and on the Green and Yellow level on April 30, 1983. This is the only case where a station's lower level began service before the upper level.

It is somewhat of a joke amongst veteran Metro riders that Metro train operators commonly mispronounce the French name "L'Enfant" as "luh-font." The correct pronunciation is "lohn-FOHN," the "t" is silent and the first "n" is not.

L'Enfant Plaza is named for the French architect of the Federal District, Pierre Charles L'Enfant.

[edit] Notable nearby locations

• L'Enfant Plaza
• National Mall
• Several Smithsonian Museums, nearest are:
  • Arts and Industries Building (Currently closed)
  • Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
  • National Air and Space Museum (This is probably the nearest station to this most popular of Smithsonian museums)
• Several federal government buildings, including:
  • Department of Energy
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
  • Department of Transportation (DOT)
  • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
  • United States Postal Service

Previous station	Washington Metro			Next station
Waterfront-SEU toward Branch Avenue		Green Line		Archives-Navy Memorial- Penn Quarter toward Greenbelt
Pentagon toward Huntington		Yellow Line		Archives-Navy Memorial- Penn Quarter toward Fort Totten
Smithsonian toward Franconia-Springfield		Blue Line		Federal Center SW toward Largo Town Center
Smithsonian toward Vienna		Orange Line		Federal Center SW toward New Carrollton
Smithsonian toward Route 772		Silver Line (planned)		Federal Center SW toward Stadium-Armory
Previous station	VREX			Next station
Crystal City toward Broad Run/Airport		Manassas Line		Washington Terminus
Crystal City toward Fredericksburg		Fredericksburg Line

[edit] External links

• WMATA: L'Enfant Plaza Station
• StationMasters Online: L'Enfant Plaza Station
• The Schumin Web Transit Center: L'Enfant Plaza (Upper Level)
• The Schumin Web Transit Center: L'Enfant Plaza (Lower Level)