Photo by Katie Harbath

Update on April 28: The Metro board approved two station name changes at a meeting today, according to Metro spokesperson Dan Stessel. The Smithsonian Metro station is receiving the addition of National Mall, and the Foggy Bottom-GWU station is taking on Kennedy Center.

Original: Two Metro stations on the Blue, Orange, and Silver Lines are getting longer names. The Smithsonian Metro station is receiving the addition of National Mall, and the Foggy Bottom-GWU station is taking on Kennedy Center, according to WAMU. Metro’s customer service committee approved the additions, and they will go into effect immediately on station pylons and online materials. However, riders won’t see a change on the system’s maps until the second phase of the Silver Line opens in 2020.

When Metro asked for the public’s opinion about the changes, 54 percent of customers who took the survey were in support of the Smithsonian station name change, while only 26 percent of customers favored Foggy Bottom—GWU’s addition, according to a WMATA document.

Among other things needed to make these changes, WMATA requires that the names have input from a station’s surrounding community, identify the station by geographical features or popular nearby destinations, and be no longer than 19 characters (including spaces and punctuation), except for transfer station names, which can’t be more than 13 characters.

The D.C. Department of Transportation, which proposed the name changes, submitted letters of support for the Smithsonian station from Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6D, the National Park Service, and the Smithsonian Institute. DDOT offered letters supporting the Foggy Bottom-GWU change from ANC 2A and the Kennedy Center.  

After taking everything into consideration, Metro staff recommended Board approval of the Smithsonian Metro station, but not the Foggy Bottom-GWU based on the poor support from people who took the survey and the fact that the proposed addition exceeds Metro’s character limit policy.