Both Constitution and Independence Avenues between 15th and 17th Streets have been shut down and the Washington Monument evacuated in response to a threat received by telephone, reports WTOP.

Coming at the start of rush-hour on the Friday before a three-day weekend, we can only imagine how bad traffic will be in the city in the coming hours.

Update: Now we’re hearing that the threat was much ado about nothing. (Insert mandatory joke about how D.C. officials won’t hear about this until next week.)

Update, Part II: WJLA is reporting that the threat was phoned in from a pay phone at the Tenleytown Metro station. They are reviewing security tapes to see if they can identify the culprit.