Metrorail to Georgetown? It's a Pipe Dream

IT'S A NOTION sure to draw interest in our trafficky little city: the Metro Board on Thursday will reportedly hear a proposal to run a Metrorail line through Georgetown.

It's a brilliant idea. Georgetown's one of the spots within Metro's existing sphere that's most clearly ripe for mass transit, with its array of shops and scads of residents. It's such an obviously smart place to put a Metrorail station that I've encountered many a newcomer who's incredulous that there isn't one already.

It's smart. It's exciting. It's a long time coming.

It ain't gonna happen.

Here's the idea, as reported by WTOP's Adam Tuss:

Another rail line would be built from Rosslyn, across the Potomac River, through the top of the District, and then connect with other lines in the city. This way more rail cars could be sent through the downtown core, spreading out riders.

For Metro officials, the plan is a way to not only serve riders and residents keen to see subway service in Georgetown, but more importantly, as Tuss suggests, an effort to break up the crush of passengers that Metro packs through the downtown corridor each day — especially since, as WTOP reports, some parts of the system will start hitting capacity within the next 10 years.

But this project won't be the fix they're looking for.

First off, there's the specter of the Dulles rail project to contend with. The main reason the proposed 23-mile extension to Dulles Airport in Virginia ran out of steam is because officials couldn't convince the federal government to chip in for part of the costs. One of the feds' deal-breaking concerns: Metro's "capacity to integrate the extension into a transit system plagued by underfunding and a mounting backlog of critical repairs," The Post's Bill Turque reported last month.

That's not exactly a vote of confidence that the transit system can handle an expansion.

Then, as Tuss noted in his story, there's the prospect of working out the details of the line — Underground? Overground? Where would this station sit? — with the residents of Georgetown. If you think the folks pushing for a tunnel through Tysons rather than the overhead tracks that government officials wanted were a deep-pocketed, well-connected group of plaintiffs, just wait till the land of manses on a hill gets a load of the potential construction in its back yard.

And let's not forget money. The Dulles Metrorail effort's projected costs ballooned up to $5 billion earlier this year. Metro didn't return Express' request for comment on this story, but we'd have to assume that the price tag for running trains through the city — even if they're overground — would be hefty. Even Metro's most recent addition, the fill-in station at New York Avenue on the Red Line, cost $109.9 million. With the Dulles defeat so fresh and the economy what it is these days, could Metro possibly scare up the money to make this idea a reality?

In his story, Tuss strikes a note of inevitability:

The day is most likely coming where the subway will run under (or above) Georgetown. It may not be in the near future, but the discussion certainly will come up again and again.

I'd say that running Metro through Georgetown would be great for passengers and a potential boon for Metrorail planners, but I think it'll be quite some time before Metro can get all of the necessary pieces in place to make it happen. That is, if it ever can.

» "G'Town Express [WTOP]

Should Metrorail run through Georgetown? Could Metro pull a project like this off? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Photo by Michelle Repiso/Express

Posted By Greg Barber at 4:39 PM on April 22, 2008 Tagged in Free Ride , Georgetown , News , Top Stories , Transit

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