To be constructed as an above ground station in the parking lot north of RFK Stadium near Oklahoma Avenue, the station was canceled saving Metro $12 million and the alignment of the line was shifted slightly to the east to address neighbor concerns. This then made the line the only one to have a station canceled due to neighborhood opposition. In reaction to their lobbying, the DC government insisted that the station be removed and that the tunnel for the line be extended through the neighborhood. Local residents objected to a proposed 1,000-car commuter parking lot at that station and the traffic that it would generate in the neighborhood. The ARS contained a Blue Line/ Orange Line station at Oklahoma Avenue between Stadium/Armory and the Anacostia River Bridge. In March 1968, the WMATA board approved its 98-mile (158 km) Adopted Regional System (ARS) which included the Blue Line from Huntington to Addison Road, with a possible extension to Largo. The railroad's predecessor, the Washington Southern Railway, constructed the section in 1896 within the grade of the old disused Alexandria Canal. A surface-level section of the Blue Line that parallels Virginia State Route 110 where passing Arlington National Cemetery and traveling between The Pentagon and Rosslyn replaced a section of the closed Rosslyn Connecting Railroad, a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Virginia portion of the Blue Line took much of its present form along the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad right-of-way to Colchester, as construction along existing right-of-way is the least expensive way to build into the suburbs. Instead, routes had to serve each local suburban jurisdiction to assure that they would approve bond referendums to finance the system. Congressional route approval was no longer a key consideration. With the formation of WMATA in October 1966, planning of the system shifted from federal hands to a regional body with representatives of the District, Maryland and Virginia. The route continued in rapid transit plans until the formation of WMATA. It did not include a route in Prince George's County. The National Capital Transportation Agency's 1962 Transportation in the National Capital Region report anticipated much of the present Blue Line route in Virginia with the route following the railroad right-of-way inside Arlington and Alexandria to Springfield. Because the plan called for extensive freeway construction within the District of Columbia, alarmed residents lobbied for federal legislation creating a moratorium on freeway construction through July 1, 1962. In 1959, the study's final report included two rapid transit lines which anticipated subways in downtown Washington. Planning for Metro began with the Mass Transportation Survey in 1955 which attempted to forecast both freeway and mass transit systems sufficient to meet the needs of 1980. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Station
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