Photo by Sandra Sitar.

The escalators at the Foggy Bottom Metro station have gotten a deservedly bad rep, lo these past few years. Complete shutdowns, like this one in 2008, have been a regular occurance, leading to plenty of grumbles from frustrated riders. So while we’re sure that a year-long rehabilitation process is hardly going to stifle some of those complaints, at least when it’s over, we’ll have three new escalators — and a staircase, to boot.

Metro announced this morning that they will replace the station’s three troublesome escalators. Work will begin on January 24. WMATA will also be installing a staircase and a new canopy over the entrance. Construction work on the escalators will take place one device at a time, with two other escalators — one going up, the other down — hopefully remaining in service.

In the agency’s press release, interim Metro General Manager Richard Sarles apologized in advance for any problems the work may cause. “While we regret the inconvenience to customers, after one year customers will benefit from three brand new escalators they can rely on. For the first time, the station will have a staircase to improve passenger flow and increase capacity to move people through the station.”

It’s hard to argue with Sarles — a staircase at Foggy Bottom has been a long time coming. And this work, despite the “inconvenience,” is pretty much a necessity at this point — even if the Metro wasn’t having problems with escalators system-wide.