As I left the Capitol building on Monday evening and headed to the train station a few blocks away, the security fencing was going up on Constitution Avenue and around the Capitol building.
Usually it takes me about 9 minutes to walk from the Senate side of the Capitol to the train station, but with all the barriers going up and all the people. It was a bit of an adventure.
You can see the Capitol building behind the steel fence, which looked about 8 feet high, as it was being locked in place with Jersey walls along the street.
I expect you will see an awful lot of that on TV on this day.
Since I had come into work in the morning, all kinds of signs had sprung up around the Capitol complex, which will direct people to their specific seats or standing areas for the Inauguration.
You can see the Capitol down Delaware Avenue on the Senate side beneath the sign.
The sidewalks here were jammed with people - at 6pm on Monday night. I can't imagine what the heck it will look like during the day on Tuesday.
The worst is that there will be so many poor slobs from out of town who won't know their way around and will probably miss getting to their seats because of the crush of people.
As for the crush of people, it was a crush of cars just down the block as I tried to get to Union Station for my train home.
I should have known better and left earlier, but I had too much work to do for Tuesday morning.
Usually, I walk right across the street and into the station, but not only were there thousands of people milling about outside, but there was a huge Inaugural party there as well.
As you can see, traffic was going nowhere and only getting worse.
Soon after, we got this helpful message from the DC government:
Traffic Congestion in Downtown DC - Motorists Advised to Avoid Area Tonight
(Washington, D.C.) The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is advising motorists to detour away from the downtown area this evening. At this hour, there is traffic congestion and even gridlock at many intersections, particularly around 7th and H Streets, NW near the Verizon Center, due to the large volume of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. In addition, barriers are being put in place in advance of road closures for the Presidential Inauguration and driving in the downtown area is expected to become even more difficult tonight.
As I left the Capitol building on Monday evening and headed to the train station a few blocks away, the security fencing was going up on Constitution Avenue and around the Capitol building. Usually it takes me about 9 minutes to walk from the Senate side of the Capitol to ...
About the Author
Featured
