Fantasy Metro Map - DC 2100

Yes, this is an absolute pipedream... hence the 2100 moniker.  While I laid these out to be at least somewhat technically feasible, everything shown would still require immense amounts of funding, right-of-way, and political will.  What is shown are all heavy rail; I have a separate file for light rail / BRT systems (in Google Earth) which would make one's head spin (if you want to see an older version of that, check out this post).

Hosted on Flickr; click to view full-size

From Existing

First are the changes to the existing lines.  First and foremost: the Blue sees a major realignment as it runs along a new line toward Fairfax & also crosses the Potomac at a new location.  It includes a station right at the Marc Center, home to a new military facility as part of the ongoing BRAC realignment.  The Pink fills in the reach of our current Blue line.  I swapped these around largely because I felt it better to have each line go "through the city" a bit more than skirt the edge; and I also wanted to relieve Rosslyn of its existing bottleneck.

The Red and Orange still look almost the same, though only Orange was left nearly unchanged (I think).  Red and Green are both pretty similar to their current forms, though each has been extended.  The Silver was realigned a bit toward its eastern end so that it continues out with the new Cyan line.  This was intended to try and provide an airport line (Dulles) toward the area which is least served by major airports.

The Yellow and Green lost their "bulge" as they reach out toward Columbia Heights; I had to take that out simply to fit everything in... though it does sort of cause both lines to take on the aesthetic of the only solid straight lines on the system; almost like a backbone of the system.  Although it's kind of fun to think about aesthetics, considering the spaghetti nature of this map... I'm an engineer; not a graphic artist.

Amtrak, MARC, and VRE service are all shown based on existing locations, so any extensions that pickup new stops also show those new connections.  Capital Bikeshare locations are shown based on existing dock locations as of January 2011.

What's New - Extensions

I've already covered Silver and Blue, so looking at Red: the Red Line extension out to Germantown pretty much parallels the CSX and MARC tracks.  This results in some significant redundancy with MARC, potentially either meaning that the Metro stations aren't needed, MARC stations aren't needed, or perhaps some rebalancing of the two.  The Germantown station is a bit of a bother given that Germantown has been developed so remotely from the station... so this would really function more as a Park & Ride.

The Green extension out to BWI brings each of the three major airports onto the Metro system.  I actually have a couple different layouts for this... some vary in Laurel, either hitting Konterra or instead getting a better Contee location.  Another runs east toward Ft Meade (which could be a security issue if traveling through there) and another instead hits Savage and Jessup.  Then another terminates into BWI and I have a slew that instead head to Columbia.  ...Though in truth, I think Columbia would be better served by new MARC service.

The Yellow line is realigned to run up the US 29 corridor.  I have another option which skips Ft Totten and instead goes from Petworth to Manor to Chillum.  This would help relieve Ft Totten, as it could become a hefty bottle given that the Yellow, Green, and Brown lines would all be on the same tracks.

What's New - New Lines

I'll start with Cyan, helping to offset the Red Line's crush a bit by enabling riders not destined for the core to instead ride something a bit more direct to Northwest and Northeast.  It hits critically underserved AU along with Georgetown & then continues into the areas home to much of the housing for those very students... I'd hazard a guess that the average age of riders will be about 22.

Pink is the other new radial line, duplicating Green and Yellow a bit on each end; but pioneering its own way through the city.  New attractions include the Hospital Center & Howard University; in addition to bringing some much-needed access to the western reaches of the National Mall.

Two circumferential lines are included: first an inner line (gray-ish) which hits a strong mixture of residential, offices, retail, entertainment, and recreation.

The outer Brown Line helps link the suburbs, enabling each of them to become stronger origins/destinations in their own right.  The Brown Line has two recreational destinations which would likely operate seasonally: Brookmont (right on the Potomac) and Rock Creek Park.  At some point I might readjust it on the south side so that it runs across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and serves National Harbor's Beltway Parcel, but the "real" National Harbor would still be rather distant & ridership would be pretty low among the communities along the Beltway... so it was tough to justify.  I think that's all better covered by light rail.

What's New - New Stations

Of course, there are the suburbs which are now brought into the system & also those recreational stops on the Brown Line.  The Langley station is located at the front gate of the CIA, potentially helping to persuade some of its workers to opt for transit.  Cyan hits a variety of new reaches in the far Northwest, but the real fun is on the new options in Northeast: this area has been starved for some higher-capacity transit.

Increasing density in the core: Logan Circle could very likely come to rival Dupont as a city center, with the direct connections to McPherson (White House) as well as Union Station (Capitol) enabling embassies to find some primo options among the housing stock in these areas.

A new Foggy Bottom station (the old one being renamed to Washington Circle) can help serve the plethora of businesses & government-related companies in this section.

As previously mentioned, Lincoln Memorial and Potomac Park both provide sorely needed access to the touristed reaches of Southwest... these would also help offset the pressure on Smithsonian during the tourist season; although these two would undoubtedly become mob scenes during Cherry Blossoms... but at least it's two stations instead of our current one.

Potomac Park also provides improved transit access to the slew of recreational facilities just south (including a pool!) and I'd love to see the backside of the Lincoln Memorial be converted to a beach or something... I know, a beach in the Potomac sounds a bit far-reaching, but hey far-fetched is the general theme of this whole thing, anyway.  While we're at it: we can take out I-66 / E St's massive interchange and put it to better economic use.  Toss a couple CaBi stations in at Lincoln Memorial & at the Kennedy Center, and voila: a lovely riverfront ride instead of standing-room only shuttles.

While not "new" per se, I also combined the Farragut Square stations.  The basic assumption is that they could be linked by either a city-built tunnel; or perhaps tunnels constructed in segments as part of eventual redevelopments of the parcels between the stations.


Shady Grove is missing... that's simply because I forgot it; just imagine that it's still there.

What's New - Potential Problems

Forgetting the sheer scale of what's shown, operational issues are likely to arise at Pentaon & Pentagon City, where 4 lines travel along the same alignment.  It'd likely need a third or potentially fourth track simply to handle the loads; and both stations would need *major* reconstruction.  Given that the Department of Defense owns one and the other is built into a major mall: both locations face some big problems.

There are 3 lines sharing trackage at Waterfront, Navy Yard, Potomac Ave, Stadium/Armory, Ft Davis, Benning Ridge, Logan Circle, possibly Dupont Circle, U St, and Ft Totten.  I think that's all of them.  All of these could potentially face some hefty capacity issues -- not necessarily that the train cars are full; but that the number of tracks & capabilities of the signals can't handle the number of trains themselves.

Keep in mind that this map doesn't necessarily reflect how the tracks will actually be aligned... so just because you see lines parallel to each other: in practice they might be crossing perpendicularly; and vice versa.

Other projects

I have this drawn up at a more technical level in Google Earth in addition to my light rail / BRT system map... it's a HUGE map that mostly covers the Maryland reaches.  I also have a Circulator map for DC and have some rail networks (heavy and light rail) that I've been working on for Pennsylvania -- particularly around Dutch Country & Philly because that's where I'm from.

Credits

A big thanks to tracktwentynine for the base map, although there's not too much that can be recognised anymore.  The small icons for Amtrak, MARC, and VRE icons were all lifted from Wikimedia and edited to fit more nicely.  The icon for Capital Bikeshare was obtained from its website.  The car icon came from somewhere on the internet... I think here?  I can't quite recall that being the same site, though it's certainly the same icon.  This was all laid out in Adobe Illustrator CS5 -- my first time ever using it; it was a very "learn as you play" experience.