Red Line (WMATA) - History

History

Planning for Metro began with the Mass Transportation Survey in 1955 which attempted to forecast both freeway and mass transit systems sufficient to meet the needs of 1980. In 1959, the study's final report included two rapid transit lines which anticipated subways in downtown Washington. Because the plan called for extensive freeway construction within the District of Columbia, alarmed residents lobbied for federal legislation creating a moratorium on freeway construction through July 1, 1962. The National Capital Transportation Agency's 1962 Transportation in the National Capital Region report anticipated much of the present Red Line route, with the Red Line following the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad right-of-way between Silver Spring and Rockville instead of a direct route between Bethesda and Rockville. The route continued in rapid transit plans until the formation of WMATA.

With the formation of WMATA in October 1966, planning of the system shifted from federal hands to a regional body with representatives of the District, Maryland and Virginia. Corngressional route approval was no longer a key consideration. Instead, routes had to serve each local suburban jurisdiction to assure that they would approve bond referenda to finance the system. Because the least expensive way to build into the suburbs was to rely upon existing railroad right-of-ways, the Red Line took much of its present form, except that it continued to feature a further link between its two stems along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad right-of-way.

By 1969, WMATA had decided on the current routing and stations, except for the extension beyond Rockville to Shady Grove. Funding for the extension to Shady Grove was conditionally approved in July 1975. Construction on the Red Line began with a groundbreaking ceremony on December 9, 1969. Construction proved difficult because the National Park Service prohibited a bridge across Rock Creek and required that the Red Line tunnel under that valley, the tunnel in turn caused both the DuPont Circle and Woodley Park stations to be built further underground. The Red Line was proposed to tunnel under Yuma Street from Connecticut Avenue to Wisconsin Avenue, but local residents sued, and that court case delayed construction of the tunnel for two years, although WMATA finally won the right to build the tunnel there.

Service on the Red Line (and the Metro as a whole) began on March 29, 1976, with operations between Farragut North and Rhode Island Avenue. Gallery Place's opening was delayed due to a court order regarding lack of handicapped access, but it opened in the middle of the line on December 15, 1976. The western end of the line was extended one station to Dupont Circle on January 17, 1977, three stations to Van Ness – UDC on December 5, 1981, five stations to Grosvenor–Strathmore on August 25, 1984, and four stations to Shady Grove on December 15, 1984. The eastern end was extended four stations to Silver Spring on February 6, 1978 – which added Maryland to the system for the first time – two stations to Wheaton on September 22, 1990, and one station to Glenmont on July 25, 1998, completing the line.

A short time after the Green Line branch north of Fort Totten opened in the early 1990s, the Green Line Commuter Shortcut began as a six-month experiment. Passengers could board the Green Line between Greenbelt and West Hyattsville and travel as far as Farragut North without having to transfer; the trains bypassed Fort Totten via a single-track spur between the West Hyattsville and Brookland–CUA stations. Due to its success, the shortcut continued until the mid-city portion of the Green Line was completed in 1999.

The NoMa – Gallaudet University Metro station (formerly New York Ave–Florida Ave–Gallaudet University), located between Union Station and Rhode Island Avenue – Brentwood, opened on November 20, 2004. It was the system's first in-fill station (i.e., a new station built between existing stations).