Union Station plaza construction nears completion But now, after nearly 18 months of work, the new Columbus Plaza is almost complete, and drivers can exit at one end of the plaza or the other. "The goal of the project was to turn Columbus Plaza into a real circle," said Ali Shakeri, who oversaw the project for the D.C. Department of Transportation. That work is nearly done, he said. Cars, buses and taxis began passing through the new exit late last year, and the mess that comes with construction is largely gone. The $8 million dollar project also reworked the rest of the plaza, installing larger sidewalks and new traffic signals. Boxy concrete security barriers were replaced with smaller, less imposing bollards. In the coming months, the plaza's green space will be expanded. "The plaza really needed some attention," said Thomas Luebke, secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a federal agency that advises on the designs of museums, memorials and other significant public projects. That very strange configuration of roads . . . didn't work very well for the station or the public space. Drivers using the circle recently have praised the new setup, though many still noted that congestion remained a problem in front of the station. "It made it more convenient," Michelle Mitchell, 54, of Southeast Washington said as she idled in her car in the plaza on a recent afternoon. She said she has been driving through the plaza for more than 25 years. It's great, that new opening, because you have so many choices. The reconstructed plaza is the latest chapter in Union Station's evolution. The train terminal, built in 1907, underwent a major restoration in the 1980s. Even bigger changes may lie ahead. Last year, planners proposed a $7 billion dollar transformation of the station, aiming to increase capacity and turn it into a high-speed rail hub. Even as cars and planes changed the way many people came to Washington over the 20th century, Union Station remains a gateway to the nation's capital; it's just blocks from the Supreme Court and the Capitol. Today, it is a terminal for Amtrak, MARC and Virginia Railway Express trains, Greyhound and other intercity bus lines, and Metro. The plaza's rehabilitation was complicated because of how many agencies have a say in the space. The D.C. Department of Transportation managed the project, but the National Park Service, Union Station Redevelopment Corp., the Architect of the Capitol and Amtrak were among those with input, Shakeri said Columbus Plaza houses a statue of the explorer that was erected in 1912. The plaza's overhaul will wrap up when the planned landscaping is completed in March or April. Areas that had been covered by asphalt and used by cars curving toward the exit will be green space. "It's much more pedestrian friendly," said Beverley Swaim-Staley, president of Union Station Redevelopment Corp., the nonprofit organization that manages the station. A large part of that, she said, is that it's more obvious how to cross the plaza. The fact that the plaza is less confusing is a big part of what makes this change important, Luebke said. "Whether you are conscious of it or not, the fact that it's a more logical, well-maintained public improvement, it registers," he said. You feel like you're entering into a more special place than, say, a cruddy kind of taxi area. Pedestrians who pass through the plaza each day say they are noticing a difference now that work is winding down. "Everything looks quite a lot nicer," said Jason Snead, 25, who walks through the plaza each day on his way to and from his job at the Heritage Foundation. It looks cleaner. But for some pedestrians navigating the traffic, problems remain in making it through congestion in front of Union Station. "I feel like I'm always dodging cabs," said Racquel Segall, 22, of Baltimore.