Planned for wheelchair riders
A large transfer station under Southwest DC. Before you leave the mezzanine, pick the Maryland Avenue / Smithsonian Museums exit. The wrong elevator can leave you blocks from the National Air and Space Museum.
Written for riders who need the right elevator to reach the museums.
Station D03
The choice that matters
Maryland Avenue museums exit · or the L'Enfant Plaza exits
Same station, but a very different route outside for a wheelchair or stroller.
Disability & mobility
L'Enfant Plaza serves the Blue, Orange, Silver, Yellow, and Green Lines. That also makes it easy to get lost: there are several levels, and an elevator that is working may not reach the Maryland Avenue exit for the National Air and Space Museum.
Museums
This is the exit for the National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian. Before you leave the platform, check that your elevator serves this entrance. The Plaza exits seem close underground, but they are not.
Accessibility page for National Air and Space Museum
Best for the Air and Space and American Indian museums
Plaza
These exits lead to offices and shops. Fine if that is where you’re going. Wrong if you expected every L'Enfant exit to come up by the museums at the edge of the National Mall.
Best for the offices and shops at L'Enfant Plaza
At this stop, “accessible” only holds when the elevators are working. It also matters which exit each one reaches.
If the elevators on your platform are out, check our live map before you transfer, while you can still change your route. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) elevator-outage shuttle: 202-962-1825 · TTY 202-638-3780.
On the ground
Three steps: pick the exit, head to Air and Space, continue to the American Indian museum.
01
Choose the Maryland Avenue / Smithsonian Museums exit while you can still change your route. If you take an elevator to the wrong level, getting back with a wheelchair can take the whole afternoon.
02
From the museums exit, the trip outside is short and mostly flat. From a Plaza exit, you can be several blocks away, with Independence Avenue traffic in between.
03
It’s on the same museum side of the station. There is still a trip outside after the elevator, with heat and tour groups, but you should not need a second Metro ride.
Why the exits feel like this
L'Enfant Plaza makes transfers easy. Its elevators do not always make it easy to reach the exit you need.
The station was designed to bring many lines together under the redeveloped Southwest area. That is why it feels like a large basement: platforms on different levels, long mezzanines, and several street exits that are not all served by the same elevator.
Tour guides still say “take L'Enfant for Air and Space.” That is only true if you leave through the Maryland Avenue / Smithsonian Museums entrance. Before you board, decide on that exit, then check which elevators still reach it.
On the street
L'Enfant Plaza station
7th St & Maryland Ave SW · museums entrance
Washington, District of Columbia
Maryland Avenue museums exit · Plaza exits at 9th & D
Blue · Orange · Silver · Yellow · Green
Nearby when you use the right exit: Air and Space, the American Indian museum, the edge of the National Mall. When elevators are out: the Mall or Independence Avenue exits at Smithsonian station may be an easier way to the museums.
Open L'Enfant Plaza on the live mapLive elevator status at L'Enfant PlazaAfter the elevator
Sorted shortest first. Times are hand-set for a chair or stroller pace from the museums exit — not live routing.
At the venue
We copied these by hand from each venue’s own pages. They may be out of date or wrong, so confirm on the venue’s page before you go.
Source: National Air and Space Museum
Accessibility page for National Museum of the American Indian
Last look
Four things to check before you go.
Check which of the four elevators are working, and which entrance each one serves.
Choose the Maryland Avenue / Smithsonian Museums exit before you board. The Plaza exits lead somewhere else.
If the L'Enfant elevator to the museums exit is out, the Mall or Independence Avenue exits at Smithsonian station may be an easier way to the same museums.
Ramps and elevators inside each building are on the museum’s own page. Metro elevator status is on our map. Check both.
About this guide. We put these guides together by hand. Travel times are our own estimates, and venue details are copied from their websites, so either can be wrong or out of date. Check the venue’s page before you go. For elevators, trust the live map and the transit agency.