Inauguration: Thousands turn I-395 into Pedestrian Bridge/Tunnel!

[Leopolds Ghost]

Anyone have pics? I am still uploading mine.

I decided to take the tunnel just for fun, although it ended up delaying my opportunity to get on the Mall and I only got as far as the Sylvan Theater (and that only because I was by myself and could squeeze thru the oncoming crowds). I thought for sure the decision to use I-395 as a pedestrian tunnel under the mall would turn out to be a boondoggle: The tunnel is HUGE and a mile long. Well, guess what it was packed and even the overpasses were packed with people waving to the crowds coming out of the tunnel onto the highway. I thought for sure they would close it off during the ceremony, but apparently they slipped up and a whole bunch of folks ended up in the tunnel. Next time (I think they did this once before) they need to close off the entrances a half hour before the event to keep people from being stuck inside. Anyway, pics to come (if I can figure out how to convert them) anyone have packed roads pics?

[Captain Hilts]

1. I almost walked it just because it was possible...

then decided it would probably be pretty smelly.

Purple ticket holders ended up in there from what my friends have heard.

FDR: Who's this Hilts fellow?
ER: It's really MookieWilson, Darling...
FDR: And what's this 395 tunnel of which they speak?
ER: It's like FDR drive, except...oh, never mind, move over and let me drive!

[Leopolds Ghost]

4. Awesome, it was actually pretty clean. I'm surprised they didn't shut it down 30 min till 30 after

To prevent people being stuck in there trying to get to the Mall during the ceremony.

There were a lot more than 2 million people, not sure where that figure came from.

I think they assumed no one would use it, certainly didn't anticipate the tunnel filling up.

But you couldn't walk to the Mall any other way except around 17th street (which admittedly
would have been quicker, I back tracked from Metro Center to the tunnel just for fun, I had
no idea the Mall was already filling up and I ended up on 17th street!)

All the parade crossings were inside the security zone on Penna Ave.

Not sure what the purpose of that was. Obama got out once along Penna Ave and the stands
were half empty because of the lines trying to get into the high security zone. I guess
they didn't want to take the chance, but I didn't have to go thru any checkpoints to get
on the Mall. Many , many crowd control points tho. Mostly just to keep certain streets
open to vehicles, or they would have been filled up. Other streets which were supposed
to be sidewalk only with barriers to preserve emergency access got spilled over and the
ambulances and fire trucks had to honk their way thru.

[Captain Hilts]

5. 18th Street!!!!!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. That's incredible.......

They left the tunnel open, I guess, because buses and limos and cabs were still allowed in, right?

I'm in Alexandria. I can't even imagine that tunnel packed with people. Unbelievable.

[Captain Hilts]

3. I thought it might get packed and I'd get stuck in a stinky tunnel.

So I was on the Washington Monument grounds.

I need a "I saw the Inauguration on a JumboTron" t-shirt.

[Leopolds Ghost]

7. That's where everyone in the tunnel route ended up. Don't believe the media figure of 1.8 million

Apparently the crowd backed up into the tunnel after that. Meaning hundreds of thousands on side streets + tunnel

[Leopolds Ghost]

6. If I upload my pics I'll post them.

Apparently half the crowd couldn't get on the mall. I think an extra million went uncounted who
ended up getting off the Metro and buses and couldn't get within two blocks.

The Metro counted its first ever million rider day, I think. And that's without the Silver Line
or the Purple Line. (Still, with return trips, that's only half a million people? Everyone else
must have come by charter bus and walked... I waited 30 min in the cold to get back on the Metro
after waiting in the museum for half an hour to let the crowds disperse. The line to get on Metro
was all the way around the block. Good thing tho, because once you got on the stations were NOT
dangerously crowded and resembled a normal rush hour... for those of us familiar with DC.