When Reddit user twoninehigh was locked down in 2020, it seems that they spent their time coming up with this amazing alternative metro map for the Washington, DC region. By adding 3 new lines (teal line, pink line, and gold line), extending all existing lines, and rerouting some, they created a vision of what the current WMATA map could be.
The result of several iterations, this is meant to be a semi-realistic expansion to the current Washington Metro system. It’s designed to cut out the triple interlining so that the system could return to its shorter historic headways, in this case about 5 min per line during rush hour.
u/twoninehigh
I have probably spent hours exploring this map and thinking about what could happen. Besides the question of how this would be funded at a time when WMATA is struggling to maintain operations of the current system, I’m not sure how well received the additional stations would be in the communities. People also point to Georgetown as being against having the metro (which is a bit more nuanced than the lore would have you believe), but I think that some neighborhoods like Crestwood would also be against it. If Crestwood is against a playground, would they really be for a metro station?
One thing that’s missing from the map is the Purple Line–but it was purposeful and not forgotten. Because the Purple Line is not a part of WMATA, it was not included. Instead, the map maker imagined an expanded Purple Line that serves as a loop. You can see the connection points as “PR” in a gray circle at the stations with connections.
While the stylized map is a fun way to visualize the metro system, they also created a custom Google Map that shows the true routes they suggested, along with the Purple Line:
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