Inauguration closings

January 8, 9:39 AMDC Transportation ExaminerKatherine M. Hill

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Road closures, courtesy Secret Service

This week's road closure updates include complicated methods to re-route area residents around the city...just to reach work. Bridges in and out of the city in addition to a route around the route are shut to motorists and cyclists.

A map provided by the Secret Service, seen right, and available here, details the most recent closures in the city.

Bridges crossing the Potomac from Virginia to the District will be closed to everyone but pedestrians and emergency vehicles. From The Washington Post:

Only buses, emergency vehicles, taxis, limousines and other "authorized vehicles" will be allowed over the normally busy crossings, according to plans released today by the U.S. Secret Service and regional transportation officials. 

The following list details popular routes in the area, courtesy NBC 4:

• 14^th Street Bridge – Restricted to Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only
• Roosevelt Bridge – Restricted to Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only
• Memorial Bridge – Restricted to Pedestrians and Emergency Vehicles Only
• Key Bridge – Restricted to Mass Transit Only
• Chain Bridge - Restricted to Authorized Vehicles and Mass Transit Only, no charter buses.
• South Capitol Street Bridge – Restricted to Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only
• Southeast/Southwest Freeway – Restricted to Emergency Vehicles Only
• Rock Creek Parkway – Open to traffic from  Beach Drive to Virginia Avenue NW (Holiday traffic schedule in effect throughout the park)
• Clara Barton Parkway operating under Holiday schedule (2 way traffic all day)
• 11^th Street Bridges – Restricted to Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only
• Sousa Bridge – Open to all traffic from east of the river to security checkpoint in Capitol Hill; Barney Circle closed to all vehicles
• East Capitol Street – Open to all traffic but roadways around RFK will be filled with tour buses
• Benning Road – Open to all traffic
• New York Avenue – Open to all traffic
• 3^rd Street Tunnel – Closed to all vehicular traffic and restricted to pedestrian use only.

Officials are advising that locals go to their nearest Metro station, find a parking place, and ride the rails to work. Are you laughing as loudly and engagingly as I did at dinner tonight? Because I can't remember the last time I heard something this funny. With the parking restrictions already in place, it's hilarious that officials think locals should battle it out just to work. And it's uproarious that after a spokesperson laid out the plan on NBC 4 tonight he added that we better aim to get to the lot earlier than tourists during the week of the inauguration because, you know, there's going to be a lot of them.

Don't plan to bike over these bridges and closed routes: cyclists are also banned. 

WABA is offering free parking for where you can cycle. "Parking" is open 7 a.m.-5 p.m. with spots in the Jefferson Memorial parking lot and a to be announced second location. More information is available here and cyclists are encouraged to RSVP. The parking is promised to be secure.

When I was still mobile and titanium free, I hoped to take the day off and go downtown. I remain staunch in my relief to hole up indoors as far from the events as possible. It sounds hermitlike, but at least I'm not alone.

Special Report: Inauguration Day 2009

• The Obama Administration at a glance
• Examiner.com Inauguration Roundup
• Examiner Coverage: Inauguration Day 2009
• Elections 2008 Examiner Coverage