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Couple of updates on the apocalyptic inaugural transportation front:
- This morning both the Post and the Examiner had stories about how hardly any charter buses have requested to park in Metro's lots. As a result, Metro has decided to open up thousands of spaces for private cars at all but one Metro station parking lot on January 20. Previously, the transit agency had only planned to offer public parking at a handful of its lots, reserving the rest of its spaces for charter buses.
- The additional parking is really good news, because it's looking like no one will be able to drive into the District from Virginia on Inauguration Day. On the heels of this morning's news that the Key Bridge will be closed to traffic, the Post reports that they're waiting on an expected announcement from the U.S. Secret Service on plans to close every single Potomac bridge crossing to private vehicles on January 20. Drivers will still be able to reach the city from Maryland via the Sousa, Whitney Young and Benning Road bridges over the Anacostia, and from New York Avenue, but given that it will also be virtually impossible to park inside the city, officials are discouraging everyone from attempting the drive.
Photo by Scott Ableman
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honestly, the whole closing of the bridges thing here is like a dream come true for a lot of people, isn't it?
The irony being that the inauguration of "change we can believe in" is driving us merry commenters to invent new ways to keep us apart. Joy to the world, all the boys and girls now...
I'll personally give the Secret Service a hundred bucks if they keep the bridges closed all week.
whizzy, why stop at a week? can't you charm them with your feminine wiles and get them closed for a year?
Maybe!
what i still am slightly confused about is MY OWN CAR. can i park it in front of my OWN APARTMENT? or do i have to move it to god knows where (georgetown? great. awesome.) starting on sunday at 12:01 am??
oh, i live in foggy bottom.
i'm guessing the answer is that i have to move it but i really wish that the DC government would give me some sort of adequate guidance.
You can park it at my place in Alexandria. I'm renting out my spot for $3000 a day.
This is a good idea in general, but how much of a clusterf*ck is it going to be if people need to evacuate the city for whatever reason...
If people need to evacuate the city, having no traffic on the bridges and approach roads will make it much easier to quickly switch to contraflow. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the reasoning behind closing the bridges, however.
Yeah -- also they really ought to enforce the neighborhood RPP rules that day for those of us outside the downtown core (like, say, between Gtown and Glover Park).
Though I guess you could just put up a sign that says "if you have out of state plates and park here your tires will be slashed when you get back from the mall" since all the police will be down there anyway.
i approve wholeheartedly. vigilante justice for all, small candy hearts for some.
My sister and her fiance are leaving BWI inauguration night. I have no clue how they're going to get there.
I am assuming that we'll be using holiday parking that day (in areas we are allowed to park, that is), but can anyone confirm that?
what if no one shows up?
On the subject of street closures in DC, see the DC.gov website here.
I'm baffled. Not every place of business in DC plans to close on Jan 20, or as of whatever hour the bridges and roads close the day before. Some people must get to work, not in the downtown core, but in other close-in areas of the city. Will every fast food place be close, every gas station, every grocery store? Many of these workers will be forced to use the intensely overcrowded Metro and it will be a nightmare for all. The businesses that will be affected by this need to do a lot of planning for late arrivals and employees who simply can't make it into the city. And those who normally route around DC to work in MD or VA -- Beltway commuters -- pack a lunch and be prepared for your commute to take 4 times the amount of time it usually does.
Question--if all the bridges are closed and the metro is suppose to be an overcrowded nightmare how does one get to the air port? My boyfriend has a 6:30pm flight out that night after the inaugural speech...how screwed is he? Taxis probably won't be able to drive there.
DCA btw.
Bridges close fine no problem, but this is a little over kill:
"I-395 north will be closed to general traffic. As a result, northbound I-95 traffic will be diverted onto I-495 North (Inner Loop) or I-495/I-95 East (Outer Loop) at the Springfield interchange."
So they are going to completely close 395? Come on what if I just want to go to Arlington or Alexandria, I guess I can take the beltway to 66 and then in....no wait that is closed too. Bullshit!
Unless you're on foot or riding a bike, downtown is not the place for you on innauguration day. I particularly like the Google Maps version of the road closures. I haven't seen so much red since I banged my old girlfriend on her period.
I like how SW is basically cut off from the world.
As a Southwester, I'm treating the 20th as a Snow Day. Just hope I don't keel over from the bus fumes.
Yawn, the anti-VA stance in some of the remarks is just more whistling in the dark from 20-somethings who are trying so hard to convince everyone that they're not the least bit disappointed that they didn't make the 2nd interview for that job in Manhattan, and that "...DC is really cool, really, it is!"
Sounds like a great day to stay the f*ck at home.
it's absolutely amazing and disgusting at the same time how there are no real provisions being given for what people inside the blast zone are supposed to do with their cars. hell, should they drive out to woodridge and try to find a block up there with an open parking space, then hitchhike back downtown?