Sustaining 21st Century Growth at Washington Metro

The Washington Metropolitan Region is experiencing unprecedented growth that will double transit demand in less than 25 years. This paper will trace some of the steps that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is following to plan for this increase in ridership. In the year 2000, the Transit Service Expansion Plan was developed to provide a framework for the overall future expansion. This included the extension of the Blue Line to Largo which is now under construction and an extension of the Orange Line to Louden County, which is now in the the final stage of developing the Environmental Impact Statement. A Core Capacity Study was also undertaken in the year 2000 to determine the improvements necessary to implement the Transit Service Expansion Plan. This study lays out various alternatives to reduce the anticipated crowding at the core 29 stations where 100% of all trains travel through and to improve service reliability through the five portal portions of the two track rail system that affect WMATA's rail operations.