Two-thirds of the way up an apartment rendering, it's easy to miss what changes first at Braddock Road Metro. Before anyone builds anything, three plans already on paper take space now set aside for cars and hand it to shared curbs and city streets. These are Metro's call for a developer on its station property, the City's approved Braddock Road redesign and the Samuel Madden Homes rebuild on North Henry Street. Under these plans, the 21-space Kiss & Ride lot would close and the bus loop's recirculation lane would be removed. Most of the on-street parking on Braddock Road between Mount Vernon Avenue and Russell Road goes away too.
Whether you drop someone off at the station, ride the bus, lock up a bike there or just drive Braddock Road to get home, the curb is where you'll feel it.
What the station property is today, and what Metro wants it to become
The site east of the station at 720 N. West St. now holds a five-bay bus loop and a 21-space Kiss & Ride lot. It also has 65 bicycle racks, 12 bike lockers and a Capital Bikeshare station. There is no Park & Ride.
On September 15, WMATA released a request for proposals seeking a developer for the roughly 3.4-acre property. According to Alexandria Living Magazine, a conceptual test fit in the solicitation shows two seven-story buildings with 378 apartments above ground-floor retail and amenity space. A single 270-space underground garage would serve both buildings. Metro's planning analysis puts the site's capacity at about 21,000 square feet of retail. Only about 1.8 acres of the property can actually be built on, because any building must sit at least 25 feet back from rail infrastructure.
Metro General Manager Randy Clarke described the goal in a news release that Alexandria Living quoted:
"Braddock Road is an opportunity to transform underused transit property into a walkable, mixed-use destination that brings more homes and neighborhood-serving amenities close to reliable transit."
The buildings are the long-range piece. The transit layout underneath them is already spelled out in detail in the RFP, and it decides where cars, buses and bikes end up.
The Kiss & Ride would move to the street
Metro's proposed transit changes would close the off-street Kiss & Ride and reconfigure the bus loop. The board reviewed the final staff report on September 10, and the changes would be built together with the future developer's project. The RFP replaces the lot's 21 spaces with curbside pickup and drop-off spaces on East Braddock Road and North West Street.
Exactly which curbs isn't settled yet. The main RFP text puts pickup on westbound East Braddock Road and southbound North West Street. The RFP's transportation appendix describes curbside lanes on both sides of North West Street and on the north side of East Braddock Road. It also requires at least one accessible curbside space nearby. Alexandria Living reported an expected 14 to 18 curbside spaces, accessible spaces included. That's a reported estimate, not a final number. The final curb layout will be worked out in design review.
Buses get their own lane and lose their loop
The new busway is one-way and buses only. It runs like this:
- Buses enter from North West Street.
- They run along the station's west edge, past five sawtooth boarding bays and two layover spaces. At least one bay and one layover space must fit a 60-foot articulated bus.
- They exit south onto East Braddock Road at a new traffic signal.
The current recirculation lane is removed. Buses would loop around on the surrounding streets. So the turning that now happens on Metro's property will happen on East Braddock Road and North West Street, the same two streets taking on the pickup spaces.
What has to stay open during construction
The RFP sets hard rules for how the station works while the project is built. Bus service must continue without interruption. Existing, temporary and permanent bus stops can be combined during the work, but the RFP doesn't say where the temporary bays would go. The station entrance, platforms and emergency exits stay in service, and the RFP requires an unrestricted public path from the street to the entrance at all times.
Bikes are covered too. The racks and lockers must stay usable throughout, though they may move for a while. The Capital Bikeshare station's 23 docks also stay in service and can be moved temporarily. If the bikeshare station moves for good, the design has to leave 10 extra feet for a possible four-dock expansion. Final locations for all bike facilities will be set in design review.
Meanwhile, Braddock Road itself is losing lanes and parking
The station plan moves pickups onto East Braddock Road just as the City redesigns the road. On May 16, City Council voted 4-3 to uphold the Traffic and Parking Board's February approval of the Braddock Road Corridor Improvements project, with some changes, according to The Alexandria Brief.
The approved plan cuts Braddock Road from two lanes to one in each direction between Mount Vernon Avenue and West Street. It consolidates turn and through lanes where Braddock meets Russell Road, Commonwealth Avenue and Mount Vernon Avenue. It also shortens crossings at major intersections with new median refuges and protected crossings, and adds emergency-vehicle pre-emption at West Street. On-street parking is removed on Braddock between Mount Vernon Avenue and Russell Road with limited exceptions. It's also removed on Commonwealth Avenue between Braddock Road and Spring Street.
City staff framed the project as a safety redesign. Speed data presented at the February board hearing showed 85th-percentile speeds above the posted 25 mph limit along the entire stretch.
Here is how the curb works out segment by segment, based on the Brief's reporting:
| Segment | Where | Bike lanes | Parking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Near Braddock Road Metro | Two-way protected | Shorter sections kept on East Braddock Road |
| 2 | Commonwealth Ave. to Mount Vernon Ave. | Unprotected the whole way; staff said the road is too narrow for protected lanes | Generally removed |
| 3 | Mount Vernon Ave. to Russell Rd. | Protected, except the block in front of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church | Removed, except about 10 standard spaces and accessible parking on the north side between Hancock and Luray |
Council's changes also require sidewalks on Luray and Hancock. Where feasible, they add or upgrade crosswalks at Braddock's intersections with Hancock, West Luray, Little and Ramsay. Staff were directed to work with Good Shepherd toward two accessible spaces in the final design. The City's stated goal is safer access to Braddock Road Metro, the Potomac Yard Trail and the Metro Linear Trail.
The neighbors were split, and the record shows it
Both projects had a long public process, and neither one landed on agreement. Metro's comment period on the transit changes ran from March 21 to April 30, 2026, with a public hearing in April. Metro's board took up the final staff report on September 10. That report counted 322 comments: 142 in support, 138 opposed and 42 neutral.
On the corridor, City staff reported almost 600 residents commenting on design options across more than 10 project meetings. In response, staff kept West Alexandria Avenue's westbound direction, adjusted disability parking and kept parking at a home with no off-street option. The council session in May ran more than 10 hours, including over six hours of public comment, per the Brief.
For the station site, there's one more formal chance to weigh in. Once Metro picks a developer, the City's development review opens another round of public comment. The property is zoned for utilities now, so a building project would need City approval, including a development special use permit. The RFP also requires every bidder to submit a community engagement plan that names the affected groups and says how feedback will be documented and answered.
Four blocks north, the one project with a finish date
At 899 and 999 N. Henry Street, the Samuel Madden Homes redevelopment held its topping-out ceremony earlier this month, ALXnow reported. The six-story building will hold 207 affordable apartments from one to four bedrooms. It will also have 7,500 square feet of open space, a community food hub run by ALIVE!, a Hopkins House early learning and childcare center, and retail. The $120 million project replaces the 66-unit complex built in 1945 and has a fall 2027 deadline.
Among the three, Samuel Madden is the only one with a firm finish date. It will open onto a street grid whose curbs, lanes and bus routes are still changing.
The dates to keep
- October 26, 2026: Metro's answers to bidder questions are due.
- December 15, 2026, 5 p.m.: Developer proposals are due.
- 2027: The City's project page lists Braddock Road corridor construction as "planned for 2027." The Brief's report on the May vote said construction was anticipated in 2028, so watch the City page for the current schedule.
- Q2 2027: Metro expects to choose a developer, with agreement talks running into Q2 or Q3 2027.
- Fall 2027: Samuel Madden Homes' deadline.
On those dates, the road redesign could begin around the same time Metro is still negotiating with its developer. Station construction would come only after the City approves that project. That means the curb changes on Braddock Road are likely to arrive before the curb changes at the station.
If you own near Braddock Road Metro and want to know how a new pickup curb, a one-lane Braddock Road and a busway onto East Braddock might affect your home's value over the next two years, Kristen Jones Real Estate can walk your block with you. Request your complimentary home valuation and we'll include what these station-area plans mean for your street.
