The ABC7 report is short on details but the confirmation nevertheless stands: Route 50 to Washington Boulevard will be closed during the inauguration. Left unexplained is where, when, and who.

The report doesn’t clarify whether any or all of New York Ave will be closed for the inauguration. For this Google drawing, I arbitrarily set the Ellipse as the eastern terminus, but a better guess is that Constitution Avenue is totally closed and New York Avenue is left unmolested.

The Examiner mentioned on Christmas Day that Arlington County was was considering closing Route 50. The ABC7 report doesn’t say who shut down the road. District and Arlington County officials acting in concert?

There’s also no clarification for how long Route 50 will be closed. For as long as District roads remain a parking lot, presumably?

As for why, the question answers itself. Even as Metro officials expect as many as 120,000 riders an hour during the inauguration, public officials are still trying to do their damnedest to ease gridlock and provide clearance for emergency vehicles on non-official business in the area. Arlington County officials now have a new question to answer: Where will they re-route the route 50 traffic?