District braces for road chaos

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By Deborah Simmons

Road-closing plans for Tuesday's inaugural ceremony could extend to Interstate 95 and other major highways, going well beyond the unprecedented measures already announced with the prospect for traffic headaches beyond anything ever experienced, officials say.

From a security viewpoint, the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama will be "the largest event ever in the world," FBI official Joseph Persichini Jr. told a group of security professionals at a briefing last week.

Virtually every media organization in the world has applied for credentials to cover the swearing-in of the 44th president, he added.

Estimates call for close to 2 million visitors, which would make the inaugural crowd the largest ever to descend on the U.S. capital. Publicly announced plans already call for closing three Potomac River bridges and two interstate highways feeding into the District from Virginia.

Mr. Persichini told the professionals, including a representative from The Washington Times, that authorities might also close parts of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and Interstate 295, two major freeways skirting the city's eastern edge. They may also close ramps on and off of I-95 -- the main interstate running from Maine to Florida -- as it runs through the eastern Maryland suburbs.

Certain feeder roads within the District but miles from the downtown area where the inauguration will take place could also be closed at times, said Mr. Persichini, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field office. He added that there have been no credible threats of an attack on Mr. Obama.

Other facilities will be stretched to the breaking point, with the U.S. Postal Service announcing it will not deliver mail in some ZIP codes and mass-transit officials saying any buses that break down in central Washington will be left where they are until Wednesday at the earliest.

Employees at many downtown offices have been advised to get as close as they can by car or mass transit and complete their commutes on foot.

The security clampdown begins Sunday with restrictions on access to the Mall -- the site of a gala free concert -- and will peak between 3 a.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday, when the major bridges and highways will be closed to private vehicles.

Some roads affected by the swearing-in and the parade will be closed at 1 p.m. Monday for a security sweep.