How does Norman Lorik spell "convenience"?
How does Jacqueline Dickerson spell "parking"?
How does Pamela Witherspoon spell "more sleep"?
Workers put the finishing touches on the Largo Metro station stop, which is scheduled to open Saturday, along with a new station at Morgan Boulevard.
(Photos Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)
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This Saturday, the answer for all three will be L-a-r-g-o, as in the new Blue Line station scheduled to open at Largo Town Center to the delight and relief of thousands of Prince George's commuters.
To Metro officials, the two-station, $456 million, 3.1-mile extension of the Blue Line is an important milestone: the system's first expansion beyond the Capital Beltway in Prince George's County.
To many riders pouring out of the Orange Line's nearby Landover station on a recent evening, however, the prospect of a new Largo station was exciting for more personal reasons.
"Now it's going to take me only five minutes to drive to Metro instead of 15," said a beaming Witherspoon, who lives in Largo.
What will she do with the 10 minutes she saves?
The fifty-something federal worker did not hesitate. "Sleep in! When you wake up at 5:30, 10 minutes makes all the difference."
As it is, Witherspoon, who manages databases at the Environmental Protection Agency in the District, said she often finds herself nodding off on the train.
"I'm reading this Danielle Steel novel right now, which should be pretty good. But every time I open it I start falling asleep," Witherspoon said with a laugh.
Still, she said, it is her husband who will be most grateful for the extra snoozing time. "He's retired. He could wake up any time he wanted if he didn't have to drive me [to the station.]"
Jacqueline Dickerson, 32, a grant specialist from Upper Marlboro who commutes to her job at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, said she probably would not use the new Largo station herself. But she hopes that as riders shift to Largo, more parking spaces will open up at the Orange Line stations that Dickerson uses -- New Carrollton, mostly, as well as Landover.
"Right now, if you're not at New Carrollton by 7:30 a.m. it's not even worth it. You will not get a space," Dickerson said.
