Driving downtown promises to be tricky this weekend, with several major events and accompanying road closures complicating driving conditions.
People attending Jon Stewart’s and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity on Saturday will mix with spectators of the Red Bull-sponsored Soundclash, Howard University’s homecoming parade and the Washington International Horse Show, effectively closing off dozens of downtown traffic routes.
District transportation officials are planning to shut down big chunks of Pennsylvania Avenue and Constitution Avenue in Northwest, as well as sections of Independence and Maryland avenues and dozens of smaller streets throughout downtown. Several roads near the Verizon Center also will be closed to vehicle traffic.
The greatest concentration of closures is planned for streets around the National Mall, where the rally is expected to draw thousands of spectators to the Washington Monument area.
The traffic headaches will persist Sunday, when closures stemming from the annual Marine Corps Marathon will abbreviate many of the District’s busiest automobile thoroughfares.
More than 25 downtown roads, as well as both the Key and Memorial bridges, will be closed between 4 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to clear a path for the runners.
Metro officials plan to open the transit system at 5 a.m. Sunday, two hours earlier than usual, to accommodate more than 30,000 runners, volunteers and spectators expected to show up for the 26.2-mile race, which will stretch across Arlington, Georgetown and much of the Mall area.
Halloween-related festivities also could make driving tricky this weekend.
The popular Nightmare on M Street bar crawl will bring hundreds of costumed partiers to Georgetown on Saturday beginning at 5 in the evening. And Sunday night partiers and trick-or-treaters will slow traffic across the region.
Traveler troubles will begin again next weekend, when Metro plans to close several stations for track maintenance work.
The five stations at the eastern end of the Orange Line are expected to close at 10 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 5. At the same time, Blue Line trains will not travel between the Stadium-Armory and Benning Road stations. Regular train routes are expected to resume Nov. 8.
