What Kind of City Do You Want: The Optimism of the Washington Metro

Monday, November 2, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
George Mason University, Van Metre Hall

Over the course of six decades, Washington planned and built the rail rapid transit system now known as Metro. Metro has succeeded in several of its key missions: providing an alternative to destructive freeways, attracting investment to declining areas of central Washington, and helping inner suburbs like Arlington and Bethesda build thriving, mixed communities.

But Metro has never enjoyed financial stability, and since the late 1990s, it has faced significant challenges of maintenance and rehabilitation. Disappointing ridership numbers on the new Silver Line extension to Loudoun County has led regional leaders to pause any expansions in favor of trying to maintain the system we have. In this talk, Zachary Schrag will explain the hopes that led federal, state, and local officials to create and extend Metro, and the challenges of building and maintaining transit in a country dominated by cars.

Zachary Schrag, professor of history at George Mason University, began researching Metro’s history as a graduate student in the late 1990s. After moving on to other topics, he is back where he started, working to understand the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project as a contrast to the downtown-focused Metro planned in the 1960s.

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