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Drivers in the nation's capital face a host of hazards: high-speed traffic circles, presidential motorcades, jaywalking tourists, and bewildering signs that send unsuspecting motorists from the Lincoln Memorial into suburban Virginia in less than two minutes. And parking? Don't bet on it unless you're in the fast lane of the Capital Beltway during rush hour.Little wonder, then, that so many residents and visitors rely on the Washington Metro, the 106-mile rapid transit system that serves the District of Columbia and its inner suburbs. In the first comprehensive history of the Metro, Zachary M. Schrag tells the story of the Great Society Subway from its earliest rumblings to the present day, from Arlington to College Park, Eisenhower to Marion Barry. Unlike the pre--World War II rail systems of New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, the Metro was built at a time when most American families already owned cars, and when most American cities had dedicated themselves to freeways, not subways. Why did the nation's capital take a different path? What were the consequences of that decision?Using extensive archival research as well as oral history, Schrag argues that the Metro can be understood only in the political context from which it was born: the Great Society liberalism of the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. The Metro emerged from a period when Americans believed in public investments suited to the grandeur and dignity of the world's richest nation. The Metro was built not merely to move commuters, but in the words of Lyndon Johnson, to create "a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community."Schrag scrutinizes the project from its earliest days, including general planning, routes, station architecture, funding decisions, land-use impacts, and the behavior of Metro riders. The story of the Great Society Subway sheds light on the development of metropolitan Washington, postwar urban policy, and the promises and limits of rail transit in American cities. (2006)
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Creating the North American Landscape Gregory Conniff, Edward K. Muller, and David Schuyler Consulting Editors George F. Thompson Series Founder and Director Published in cooperation with the Center for American Places Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Staunton, Virginia
The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro Zachary M. Schrag
The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore
© 2006 The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved. Published 2006 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 98765432 The Johns Hopkins University Press 2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363 www.press.jhu.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schrag, Zachary M. The Great Society subway : a history of the Washington Metro / Zachary M. Schrag p. cm. — (Creating the North American landscape) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8018-8246-X (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Subways—Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. 2. Subways— Washington Metropolitan Area. 3. Local transit—Social aspects—Washington Metropolitan Area. I. Title. II. Series. he4491.w44w376 2006 388.4v28v09753—dc22 2005012141 A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Frontispiece: The Washington Metro, 2004 (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority)
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations
Introduction
xiii
1
1
The City, 1791–1955
2
The Plans, 1955–1965
3
The Stations, 1965–1967
4
The Region, 1966–1967
95
5
The Bridge, 1966–1971
119
6