Photo by Cris Birch

A week after two bombs detonated at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, some of the signs of the heightened security that went into effect in cities across the nation are still visible. That includes the 1500 and 1600 blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue NW—in front of the Treasury Department and White House—which are still closed off by metal barricades and yellow tape.

In the hours following last Monday’s terrorist attack, the U.S. Secret Service cleared pedestrians and cyclists from the street and sidewalk in front of the White House, pushing them back to Lafayette Park or onto bordering 15th and 17th streets. George Ogilvie, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said at the time that the security measures were carried out in “an abundance of caution.”

That caution continues to be abundant a week later, with the area still cordoned off and no indication when the two-block stretch will reopen for foot and two-wheel traffic. The famous part of Pennsylvania Avenue was open to vehicular traffic until April 1995, when a bomb destroyed a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168. It was then converted to pedestrians and bicycles only, a policy that was made permanent after the September 11 attacks.