Late Tuesday night the mayor’s spokeswoman, Sharon Gang, said Mayor Anthony Williams declared a state of public emergency for the District effective immediately. The declaration is in response to potential flooding, loss of electricity and other adverse effects expected from the tropical storm.

The state of public emergency allows for emergency procurement of resources if needed; allows the District to assist people with damages after the event; allows the mayor to request the National Guard for resources; and puts the District in a position to request a federal declaration if needed.

While cleanup efforts freed up most major roadways in the suburbs, continued road closures at Constitution and Independence avenues quickly ground traffic to a halt throughout much of the downtown area Tuesday as thousands of cars were forced to squeeze onto side streets.

The problem was compounded Tuesday when portions of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue were closed by the Secret Service late in the rush hour to set up security for President Bush’s speech at the J.W. Marriott.

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Ben Bennett, who drives from Fredericksburg to his 15th Street office in Northwest, said it took nearly four hours to get to work, but nearly three hours of that trip was from the Pentagon to his office — just a little more than two miles.

Tom Kloosterman said it took him two hours to travel the four miles from his South Arlington apartment to his Capitol Hill office.

And D.C. Transportation officials said the roads — which together average nearly 50,000 vehicles daily — are not closed because of flooding, but because the traffic signals have no power.

So as commuters slowly traverse the cross-streets over the shuttered roads, they will see nothing on the road except mildly wet pavement and dozens of police officers standing next to the “road closed” signs.

“There were officers everywhere at the intersections, but not a puddle in sight,” Bennett said. “It was a little confusing, but very frustrating.”

So why can’t police direct traffic through the area until signals are restored? It’s a question no one seemed to be able to answer Tuesday.

D.C. Department of Transportation spokeswoman Karyn LeBlanc said it was unclear who ordered the roads closed.

D.C. police officials also said it was also unclear who ordered the closures and they have not been requested by DDOT to direct traffic on either road.

PEPCO spokesman Robert Dobnick said the utility company never asked for a road shutdown.

The U.S. General Services Administration, which closed down several federal buildings along both streets and sent thousands of workers home or to work elsewhere for the second consecutive day, said they don’t know why the roads are closed either.

LeBlanc said city officials were meeting late Tuesday to decide what options they had available to reopen the roads without operating signals, but had yet to make a decision as of press time.

mrupert@dcexaminer.com