[Archived] Duke Street Concourse Officially Opens, Dedication Ceremony Will Be Held on July 17

City Press Release


	City of Alexandria, Virginia Office of the City Manager Alexandria City Hall 301 King Street, Suite 3500 Alexandria, Virginia 22314-3211 www.alexandriava.gov Telephone: 703.838.4300 Fax : 703.838.6343

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2, 2004
PIO 166-04

Duke Street Concourse Officially Opens
Dedication Ceremony Will Be Held on July 17

The Duke Street Concourse –an underground pedestrian walkway that connects the King Street Metro Station to the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) campus– has officially opened for pedestrians.
The opening of the concourse precedes the dedication ceremony that will be held at the location on Saturday, July 17, at 9 am.

The purpose of the concourse is to allow the thousands of pedestrians expected to cross from Carlyle and the PTO to cross Duke Street on their way to the King Street Metro station safely without conflicting with vehicular traffic. About 7,100 employees will work at the Alexandria PTO when it is fully occupied in mid-2005. Approximately 50 percent of PTO employees are expected to use transit to get to work. The majority of those will use the King Street Metro station.

The concourse is 170 feet long, 20 feet wide and 12 feet high. It has a brick floor and the walls feature artwork by Ashley Spencer: six historic maps of Alexandria and six paintings depicting historic scenes of the Carlyle neighborhood (where the PTO is located).

Carlyle Development Corporation hired Corman Construction, Inc. to build the concourse. The project took approximately nine months to complete.

The concourse is open weekdays from 6 am to 8 pm and Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm. The concourse is located beneath Duke Street connecting the King Street Metro station to the PTO campus.

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