Huntington station (Washington Metro)

Originally scheduled to open in summer 1982, its opening was delayed due to both unavailability of new subway cars and the lack of a test track.^[2] Construction of the station was complete by summer 1982,^[3] and in September 1983 Metro announced the station would open that December as the new cars would be ready for service.^[4] The station opened on December 17, 1983,^[5] with Yellow Line service instead of the originally planned Blue Line service due to a railcar shortage at the time of opening.^[6] Its opening coincided with the completion of 4.2 miles (6.8 km)^[7] of rail between National Airport and Huntington and the opening of the Braddock Road, Eisenhower Avenue, and King Street–Old Town stations.^[5]

In May 2018, Metro announced an extensive renovation of platforms at twenty stations across the system. The Blue and Yellow Lines south of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport station, including the Huntington station, would be closed from May to September 2019. This will allow for the eventual demolition of an abandoned parking structure at Huntington, as well as the rehabilitation of a track crossover. The platform at the Huntington station itself was rebuilt from January to May 2020.^[8][9]

Between September 10, 2022 and November 5, 2022, Huntington was closed due to the Potomac Yard station tie-in, closing all stations south of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport station. Shuttle buses were provided throughout the shutdown.^[10] Additionally, beginning on November 6, 2022, Blue Line trains began serving Huntington due to the suspension of the Yellow Line from the 14th Street Bridge project. Trains operated between Huntington and New Carrollton stations until May 7, 2023,^[11] when service on the Yellow Line resumed but truncated from its northeastern terminus from Greenbelt to Mount Vernon Square.^[12]

In August 2025, Capital Bikeshare was installed by Fairfax County at the north entrance along with several stations along Huntington Ave.^[13]

Architecturally, Huntington station is different from the rest of the Metro network. It is partially elevated and built into the surrounding hillside. Riders enter the station from the north on a viaduct carrying the tracks from downtown Washington, D.C., but the south end of the island platform is below grade. The tracks continue into short tunnels in the hill, allowing for a future extension. The canopy is supported by buttresses that bridge the tracks into the sloped walls of the depression in which the station is built.

As a result of the unusual topography, there is an incline elevator at this station, the only one installed anywhere in the Metrorail system and one of only a handful of such elevators in the United States. As recently as 2014, WMATA itself was unable to explain why the station had been built with an inclined elevator rather than a more conventional arrangement.^[14]

A 2023 article in Greater Greater Washington offers a likely explanation, situating the inclinator within an earlier WMATA plan to use inclined elevators throughout the system. Following a December 1969 recommendation from the House Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds—issued in response to disability advocates' demands for wheelchair access—WMATA pursued "inclinators" because they could share shafts with the stairs and escalators planned for each station. The agency applied for federal grants in late 1970 to develop a prototype, but the Urban Mass Transportation Administration declined funding in December 1971, reasoning that Metro's architecturally distinct stations would yield an inclinator design that could not be reused by other transit systems. The system-wide plan was dropped in favor of conventional vertical elevators. Farragut North originally opened with an inclined elevator as well, but it has since been removed, leaving Huntington's as the only one remaining in the Metrorail system.^[15][16]

Huntington is one of only two stations that is serviced exclusively by the Yellow Line, the other being Eisenhower Avenue.

S	Street level	Upper level exit/entrance, buses, parking
M	Mezzanine	Fare gates, ticket machines, station manager
T Platform level	Northbound	→ toward Greenbelt (Eisenhower Avenue) →
	Island platform
	Northbound	→ toward Greenbelt (Eisenhower Avenue) →
S	Street level	Lower level exit/entrance, buses, parking, fare gates, ticket machines, station manager

Bus routes from Huntington on Metrobus and Fairfax Connector serve much of southern Fairfax County, Virginia.^[17]

A new 1,424-space parking garage located on the station's east side opened on August 14, 2008. There are 3,617 parking spaces at the station. The former surface parking lot off North Kings Highway is the center of an ongoing residential and business redevelopment project. Parking at Huntington Station costs $4.85 all day on weekdays, but is free on weekends and federal holidays.^[18]