Farragut North: Both Escalators going up?

[Scrabbleship]

Yes, this does inconvenience me...and anyone who tries to board there during that time considering that right now one escalator is down. This puts boarding passengers at a distinct disadvantage as they have to detour and fight passengers exiting at L Street. Wouldn't it just be easier to have it normal like every other station in the current circumstances since boarding passengers are at a distinct disadvantage as it is?

I can't see why nobody would want an entry-only situation. It works at Navy Yard and could work elsewhere after large events.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Be honest when answering this question:  What is the ratio of people exiting the station at that time to the number of people entering?  Which way are most of the faregates set up for?  And let me repeat, I agree with you that as long as one escalator is out, this is a problem, but under normal circumstances, the situation seems fine to me.  Under normal circumstances, is there an issue with 2 escalators up other than the personal inconvenience that setup causes you?

Navy Yard works as an entry only situation because there aren't any major origin or destination points served by that station aside from the ballpark.  That is not the case at Farragut North or Union Station, the other stations you have suggested this be tried at.  An entry only situation is dangerous for safety reasons.  Those safety reasons do not apply in an exit only situation.

Can you find an example of an entry-only subway station anywhere in the world besides Navy Yard after baseball games?  I'll offer Rio de Janeiro, there are several stations here where there are stairs marked no exit and in fact, I don't think you could exit from those stairs if you tried, but there is a way out in an emergency, and perhaps more importantly, these are fixed staircases so in an emergency, there isn't anything preventing me from running up them.

[Sand Box John]

WMATAGMOAGH
. . . I think the reason Friendship Heights South is elevator only is because it wasn't part of the original station design and was added later, so they had nowhere to have the escalator come out, but they did own the land where the elevators are already. John, is this accurate or was the logic something else?

Yes, the south entrance was installed well after the station originally opened. I do not know if provision were built into the station for the construction of the entrance at a later date. I also don't know if escalators were among the options considered during the design process. I would hazard a guess no as they would have come to the surface over 100' south of where the elevators are today. One of WMATA's design criterias specifies that surface escalator entrances can not be within the street easement (Dupont Circle 19th Street being the only exception). That is likely the reason why they didn't go with an escalator entrance on one of the 4 corners of Wisconsin Avenue and Jenifer Street NW.

[Scrabbleship]

To go back to the idea of making Union Station North a directional entrance in peak hours, GGW's post on expanding Union Station North had a comment which proposed this idea:

Th[e Union Station North expansion] is desperately needed. In the morning and afternoon rushes, it can sometimes take five minutes to get up/down the escalators. Absolutely ridiculous.

In the meantime, would it be possible to run both escalators from the MARC platform level down to the mezzanine the same direction during the morning and evening rushes? People going the opposite way could take the elevator. Or you could run one escalator in the direction of the rush, and stop the other one, allowing it to be used as a staircase in both directions.

The latter has been in place at Farragut North the last couple days and it improves flow for everyone. Of course, it seems to be off for fixes but it's something to keep as a permanent idea less making all of them stairs.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

To go back to the idea of making Union Station North a directional entrance in peak hours, GGW's post on expanding Union Station North had a comment which proposed this idea:

Th[e Union Station North expansion] is desperately needed. In the morning and afternoon rushes, it can sometimes take five minutes to get up/down the escalators. Absolutely ridiculous.

In the meantime, would it be possible to run both escalators from the MARC platform level down to the mezzanine the same direction during the morning and evening rushes? People going the opposite way could take the elevator. Or you could run one escalator in the direction of the rush, and stop the other one, allowing it to be used as a staircase in both directions.

The latter has been in place at Farragut North the last couple days and it improves flow for everyone. Of course, it seems to be off for fixes but it's something to keep as a permanent idea less making all of them stairs.

Using a stationary escalator as stairs is dangerous when unnecessary, and not a good idea.  Having an entry only mezzanine, for the reasons I've stated elsewhere in this thread, is also even more dangerous (exit-only has the potential to work well if done right).  Just because an idea gets posted on GGW or some other blog doesn't make it good.  The problem with blogs is that anyone who can get enough attention can say whatever he or she wants, and doesn't necessarily have to be logical, sensible, or practical.  In this case, the idea seems like a good one on the surface, but just can't work for safety reasons.