Existing comment:
Metro:
Congress favored construction of freeways through the core of the city but met opposition from residents worried about the destruction of their neighborhoods. Metrorail was an alternative, intended to be a regional counterpart to the freeways. Metro had been scheduled to open in the late 1960s. Delayed by construction obstacles, insufficient federal support, and the lack of coordinated funding from Maryland and Virginia, it did not celebrate its official opening until March 1976.
There was great uncertainty about the likelihood of Metro's success, especially in the suburbs where the national love affair with the car had supported passage of highway construction bills in Congress. Debate surrounded the system's financing and the question of who would use it. Would it serve the inner city, with its heavily African American population, of the white suburbs? Could it do both? Where would the lines run, and which communities would have stations? How much disruption would the tunneling and station-building cause? |