So the big inauguration news this morning, courtesy the Post, is that camping on the National Mall will be banned the night before Barack Obama’s inauguration, and that spectators will not be allowed to grab spots along the parade route on Pennsylvania Ave. until 7 a.m. on the morning of Jan. 20.

This seems certain to cause a giant mess, doesn’t it? Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that 4 million people really do show up to watch the inaugural ceremonies. Metro has already announced that it will start running trains at 4 a.m. on Inauguration Day in order to accommodate the massive crowds. So starting at sometime after 4 a.m., people will starting heading down toward the Capitol, the parade route, and the National Mall. But sidewalks along the parade route won’t be accessible until 7 a.m., leaving the early birds to mill around the security entrances. Then at 7 a.m., another crush of people will start arriving, creating a huge bottleneck and morning commute disaster. Right?

Photo by Greg McElhatton