Local
Suburbs drafting plans to ease the Inauguration Day gridlock
By: William C. Flook
Examiner Staff Writer
December 25, 2008
Northern Virginia officials are drafting plans to temporarily shut down major thoroughfares if Inauguration Day gridlock spills into the suburbs.
Planners, despite their near-constant pleas for motorists to find some alternative mode of transportation Jan. 20, worry that highways will be too backed up to allow emergency vehicles to pass.
Traffic restrictions on the bridges that connect Virginia and D.C. pose an especially vexing problem. Arlington County — the suburban ground zero for Inauguration Day congestion — may close Route 50 at Washington Boulevard and redirect traffic to Interstate 395 south, for example, said Deputy Chief of Police Jay Farr, who is part of the regional planning effort. Farr cautioned that no details are certain.
“We are in the process of setting up diversionary routes if in fact traffic starts to back up excessively on Route 50 or Lee Highway or Columbia Pike, or some of our primary routes for buses,” he said. “If they get to a point where it becomes gridlocked, we will have to close the road further on up so we can clear those for emergency vehicles.”
Police will try to alert motorists of road closures with variable street signs, Farr said.
Maryland is not planning any road closures during the event, said Jack Calahan, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Transportation. Officials there are expecting the worst congestion on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, Route 50 and New York Avenue, but also on arteries such as Interstate 270 and Route 29.
Officials from across the D.C. Metro region are coordinating closely with inauguration planners in the hopes of preventing a transportation disaster. Reliable estimates on the number of motorists have not been possible, though planners expect 10,000 charter buses. Crowd estimates have ranged from 1.5 million to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s initial estimate of up to 5 million, though that figure has been largely discredited.
“There is an all-hands-on-deck approach to this,” said Maryland Transportation Secretary John Porcari. “There are limits to what the transportation system can accommodate.”
Planners, despite their near-constant pleas for motorists to find some alternative mode of transportation Jan. 20, worry that highways will be too backed up to allow emergency vehicles to pass.
Traffic restrictions on the bridges that connect Virginia and D.C. pose an especially vexing problem. Arlington County — the suburban ground zero for Inauguration Day congestion — may close Route 50 at Washington Boulevard and redirect traffic to Interstate 395 south, for example, said Deputy Chief of Police Jay Farr, who is part of the regional planning effort. Farr cautioned that no details are certain.
“We are in the process of setting up diversionary routes if in fact traffic starts to back up excessively on Route 50 or Lee Highway or Columbia Pike, or some of our primary routes for buses,” he said. “If they get to a point where it becomes gridlocked, we will have to close the road further on up so we can clear those for emergency vehicles.”
Police will try to alert motorists of road closures with variable street signs, Farr said.
Maryland is not planning any road closures during the event, said Jack Calahan, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Transportation. Officials there are expecting the worst congestion on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, Route 50 and New York Avenue, but also on arteries such as Interstate 270 and Route 29.
Officials from across the D.C. Metro region are coordinating closely with inauguration planners in the hopes of preventing a transportation disaster. Reliable estimates on the number of motorists have not been possible, though planners expect 10,000 charter buses. Crowd estimates have ranged from 1.5 million to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s initial estimate of up to 5 million, though that figure has been largely discredited.
“There is an all-hands-on-deck approach to this,” said Maryland Transportation Secretary John Porcari. “There are limits to what the transportation system can accommodate.”
