Bethesda is an island platformed Washington Metro station in Bethesda, Maryland, United States.
Providing service for the Red Line, the station serves downtown Bethesda and is below the
intersection of Wisconsin Avenue (Maryland Route 355) and Montgomery Lane.
It is the first station wholly within Montgomery County, after the Red Line leaves Washington, D.C..
This station is planned to be one of the Metro stations on the Purple Line system, formerly known as
the Bi-County Transitway. Its escalators empty into a bus depot served by Metrobus, Ride On, and
the Bethesda Circulator trolley bus, situated one level below the intersection of Wisconsin, Old
Georgetown Road (Maryland Route 187), and East-West Highway (Maryland Route 410).
The station opened on August 25, 1984. Its opening coincided with the completion of 6.8 miles
(10.9 km) of rail northwest of the Van Ness–UDC station and the opening of the
Friendship Heights, Grosvenor, Medical Center and Tenleytown stations. It is relatively deep;
prior to the opening of the Wheaton station, the Bethesda station had the longest escalator
(475 feet (145 m)) in the Western Hemisphere.
The station's construction has been a major boon to the area, with several office buildings being
built on (in the Bethesda Metro Center complex) and around it.
October 8, 2018