The Washington Metro (officially Metrorail but commonly referred to as just Metro) is the rapid transit system in Washington, D.C. and its surrounding suburbs. The system is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). In Maryland, Metro provides service to Montgomery County and Prince George's County. In Virginia, service extends to Fairfax County, Arlington County, and the City of Alexandria. Since opening in 1976, the Metrorail network has grown to include five lines, 86 stations, and 106.3 miles (171.1 km) of track.
Metrorail is the second-busiest rapid transit system in the United States, in number of passenger trips, after the New York City Subway. There were 215.3 million trips, or 727,684 trips per weekday, on Metrorail in fiscal year 2008. In June 2008, Metrorail set a new monthly ridership record with 19,729,641 trips, or 798,456 per weekday.Fares vary based on the distance traveled and the time of day. Riders enter and exit the system using a stored-value card in the form of a paper magnetic stripe farecard or a proximity card known as SmarTrip.
Metrorail stations were designed by Chicago architect Harry Weese, and are an example of late-20th century modern architecture. With their heavy use of concrete and repetitive design motifs, Metro stations also display aspects of brutalist design. In 2007, the design of the Metro's vaulted-ceiling stations was voted number 106 on the American Institute of Architects' list of America's Favorite Architecture.

History

During the 1960s, there were plans for a massive freeway system in Washington. However, 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; monies for the ambitious Inner Loop Freeway system were 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 on the metro began in 1969, with groundbreaking on December 9. The system opened March 27, 1976, with 4.6 miles (7 kilometers) 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 final 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, however: a 3.22-mile (5.18 km) extension of the Blue Line to Largo Town Center and Morgan Boulevard stations opened on December 18, 2004. The first in-fill station (New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U on the Red Line between Union Station and Rhode Island Ave-Brentwood) opened November 20, 2004, and planning is underway for an extension to Dulles Airport.
Metro system 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). This act was subsequently 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 in the amount of $1.7 billion to permit the completion of 89.5 miles (144.0 km) of the Metrorail system as provided under the terms of a full funding grant agreement executed with WMATA in July 1986. On November 15, 1990, Public Law 101-551, "The National Capital Transportation Amendments of 1990", authorized spending of an additional $1.3 billion in federal funds to finance 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.

Metrorail network

Since opening in 1976, the Metrorail network has grown to include five lines, 86 stations, and 106.3 miles (171.1 km) of track. The rail network is designed according to a spoke-hub distribution paradigm, with rail lines running between downtown Washington and its nearby suburbs. The system makes extensive use of interlining (i.e., running more than one service on the same track). There are five operating lines and one line under construction.

There are currently 40 stations in the District of Columbia, 14 in Prince George's County, 12 in Montgomery County, 11 in Arlington County, 6 in Fairfax County, and 3 in the City of Alexandria. When completed, the Silver Line will add 11 new stations to the system, 8 in Fairfax County and 3 in Loudoun County, Virginia.
About 50 miles (80 km) of Metro's track is underground, as are 47 of the system's 86 stations. Track runs underground mostly within the District and high-density suburbs. Surface track accounts for about 46 miles (74 km) of the system's total, and aerial track makes up 9 miles (14 km). At 196 feet (60 m) below the surface, the Forest Glen station on the Red Line is the deepest in the system. There are no escalators; high-speed elevators take 20 seconds to travel from the street to the station platform. Wheaton station, next to Forest Glen station on the Red Line, has the second-longest continuous escalator in the world, the longest in the Western Hemisphere, at 230 feet (70 m).[1] The Rosslyn station is the deepest station on the Orange/Blue Line, at 97 feet (30 m) below street level. The station features the third-longest continuous escalator in the world at 205 feet (62 m); an escalator ride between the street level and the mezzanine level takes nearly two minutes.
The system is not centered on any single station, but Metro Center is located at the intersection of the Red, Orange, and Blue Lines, the three busiest lines in the system. The station is also the location of WMATA's main sales office. Metro has designated five other "core stations" that each have high passenger volume, including:[15] Gallery Place–Chinatown, transfer station for the Red, Green, and Yellow Lines; L'Enfant Plaza, transfer station for the Orange, Blue, Green, and Yellow Lines; Union Station, the busiest station by passenger boardings; Farragut North; and Farragut West. In order to deal with the high number of passengers in transfer stations, Metro is studying the possibility of building pedestrian connections between nearby core transfer stations. For example, a 750-foot (230 m) passage between Metro Center and Gallery Place stations would allow passengers to transfer between the Orange/Blue and Yellow/Green Lines without going one stop on the Red Line. Another tunnel between Farragut West and Farragut North stations would allow transfers between the Red and Orange/Blue lines, decreasing transfer demand at Metro Center by an estimated 11%.
Metro runs special service patterns on holidays and when events in Washington may require additional rail service. Independence Day activities require Metro to adjust service in order to provide extra capacity to and from the National Mall. WMATA makes similar adjustments during other events, such as presidential inaugurations. Metro has altered service and used some stations as entrances or exits only to help manage congestion.