Washington Metro - History

History

During the 1960s, there were plans for a massive freeway system in Washington, but opposition to this freeway system grew. Harland Bartholomew, who chaired the National Capital Planning Commission, thought that a rail transit system would never be self-sufficient because of low density land uses and general transit ridership decline. Finally, a mixed concept of a Capital Beltway system along with rail line radials was agreed upon. The Beltway received full funding; funding for the ambitious Inner Loop Freeway system was partially reallocated toward construction of the Metro system.

In 1960, the federal government created the National Capital Transportation Agency to develop a rapid rail system. In 1966, a bill creating WMATA was passed by the federal government, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland, with planning power for the system being transferred to it from the NCTA.

WMATA approved plans for a 98-mile (158 km) regional system in 1968, and construction began in 1969, with groundbreaking on December 9. The system opened March 27, 1976, with 4.6 miles (7.4 km) available on the Red Line with five stations from Rhode Island Avenue to Farragut North, all in the District of Columbia. Arlington County, Virginia was linked to the system on July 1, 1976; Montgomery County, Maryland, on February 6, 1978; Prince George's County, Maryland, on November 20, 1978; and Fairfax County, Virginia, and Alexandria, Virginia, on December 17, 1983.

The 103-mile (166 km), 83-station system was completed with the opening of the Green Line segment to Branch Avenue on January 13, 2001. This did not mean the end of the growth of the system: a 3.22-mile (5.18 km) extension of the Blue Line to Largo Town Center and Morgan Boulevard opened on December 18, 2004. The first in-fill station, NoMa – Gallaudet University (at the time called the New York Ave–Florida Ave–Gallaudet University station) on the Red Line between Union Station and Rhode Island Ave-Brentwood, opened November 20, 2004. Construction began in March 2009 for an extension to Dulles Airport to be built in two phases and opening in 2013 and 2016.

Metro construction required billions of federal dollars, originally provided by Congress under the authority of the National Capital Transportation Act of 1969 (Public Law 91-143). The cost was paid with 90% federal money and 10% local money. This act was amended on January 3, 1980 by Public Law 96-184, "The National Capital Transportation Amendment of 1979" (also known as the Stark-Harris Act), which authorized additional funding of $1.7 billion to permit the completion of 89.5 miles (144.0 km) of the system as provided under the terms of a full funding grant agreement executed with WMATA in July 1986, which required 25% to be paid from local funds. On November 15, 1990, Public Law 101-551, "The National Capital Transportation Amendments of 1990", authorized an additional $1.3 billion in federal funds for construction of the remaining 13.5 miles (21.7 km) of the 103-mile (166 km) system, completed via the execution of full funding grant agreements, with a 63% federal/37% local matching.

The highest ridership for a single day was on the day of the inauguration of Barack Obama, January 20, 2009, with 1,120,000 riders. It broke the previous record, set the day before, of 866,681 riders. June 2008 set several ridership records: it set the single-month ridership record of 19,729,641 total riders, the record for highest average weekday ridership with 772,826 weekday trips, had five of the ten highest ridership days, and had 12 weekdays in which ridership exceed 800,000 trips.

In February 2006, Metro officials chose Randi Miller, a car dealership employee from Woodbridge, Virginia, to record new "doors opening", "doors closing", and "please stand clear of the doors, thank you" announcements after winning an open contest to replace the messages recorded by Sandy Carroll in 1996. The "Doors Closing" contest attracted 1,259 contestants from across the country.

On October 30, 2010, the crowd at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear broke a 19-year record in Saturday ridership, with 825,437 trips. The previous record had been set on June 8, 1991 at 786,358 trips during the Desert Storm rally.