Photo by philliefan99.

Find some good sneakers.

That’s the best advice we can possibly give you about getting around on Sunday — a huge crowd of people enjoying the holiday combined with an impressive list of street closures and service reductions will certainly mean driving or riding Metro could be an exercise in tedium. Oh, and don’t count on the recent mild weather to continue as you trek to wherever you’ll be watching things blow up: Sunday will be the first day of yet another heat wave.

Metro: Like it or not, this is probably your best option if you don’t feel like sweating it out on foot or by bike. Expect “crowded conditions,” obviously. (WMATA’s running another one of their “guess the Metrorail ridership” contests; we’re going with eleventy billion, give or take.) Here’s the plan for Metrorail and Metrobus service — in short, Metrorail will “operate near rush-hour level service” between 6 p.m. and midnight (except at the Smithsonian station, which will be closed until the end of the fireworks), and Metrobus will operate on a normal Sunday schedule, though with dozens of detours.

Parking: It’ll be impossible anywhere there’s fireworks. Try it at your own risk.

Circulator: The Smithsonian – National Gallery of Art route will not be in operation on the Fourth, for obvious reasons. Otherwise, the Union Station – Navy Yard route and the Convention Center – SW Waterfront route will both experience detours around the National Mall. It shouldn’t effect service too much, but traffic issues will probably make the Circulator slightly less efficient than normal.

For the lengthy list of streets to avoid on Sunday, check after the jump.