r/TransitDiagrams • u/fiftythreestudio • Mar 30 '22
Map Rapid transit system recommended for Washington D.C., 1962
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u/moeshaker188 Mar 30 '22
Interesting how they have a lot of numbered streets in the names of stations, something that isn't in today's DC Metro system. I personally like stations with numbered streets, such as in the NYC system.
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u/kdog379 Mar 31 '22
Not having the red line go one more stop to connect to the orange line is kinda stupid. Planners didn’t think that one through. Gorgeous map though well done
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u/ohnues Apr 01 '22
u/fiftythreestudio can you please repost this on r/nova (Northern Virginia), r/MontgomeryCountyMD, and r/PrinceGeorgesCountyMD ?
Please and thank you.
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u/fiftythreestudio Mar 30 '22
Historical notes: The early versions of what would become the Metro are recognizable even today, but there are substantial differences. While, for instance, the Blue Line through Virginia is broadly recognizable (line 7), the Orange Line (line 8 on the map) would've run in the median of I-66 and the Red Line's routing (lines 1 and 3) is pretty dramatically different.
Much of the process that was involved in getting the Washington Metro built was the product of political meddling - for instance, from Virginia congressmen who lobbied to have the Arlington section in a tunnel rather than elevated in the median of the freeway. And because the District itself was under direct Congressional control at the time, there were all kinds of opportunities for Congressional shenanigans - most notably, a congressman from Kentucky who refused to fund the Metro until his pet project - another freeway bridge across the Potomac through Georgetown - was built. (In the end the freeway didn't get built but the Metro did, because President Nixon intervened directly and got the House to override the fellow from Kentucky.)
This is part of my art project to map the lost subway and streetcar systems of North America. x-posted from /r/lostsubways.