Construction: Getting Started

Next: Tunnels

Phase map , 1970 Station mock-up, 1968 ECTC picket sign, 1969 Groundbreaking, 1969
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Though conceived of as a single project, Metro had to be built in carefully negotiated phases. To test lighting designs, construction techniques, and other details, the Authority built a full-scale mock-up of a short section of a station vault. By the summer of 1968, engineers were almost ready to break ground, but they were delayed by Congress, which insisted that the District of Columbia first begin its freeways. Groundbreaking finally took place on 9 December 1969.