If half a million people show up, the infrastructure should be okay, except for major issues such as transportation and dining near the mall.  But if a couple million people converge on the Mall, the infrastructure, along with the food service industries will be pushed to their limits.

So here’s a few of the potential “disasters” that might occur due to massive crowds attending the inauguration celebration, and my estimation of how likely it will happen.

1. Multiple hour waits to get on Metro trains leaving the National Mall — With crowds expected to run at least five times more than a typical July Fourth event, it’s likely that Metro will be overwhelmed, even with 15 hours of consecutive rush-hour scheduling. Likelihood – very high.
2. Mobile phone service will cease — Due to overwhelmed cell towers around the Mall, especially during the hours just before and after the ceremony, the cellular carriers will likely not be able to handle all of the call traffic.  Considering at times all over the Washington, DC area, especially during rush hour, it can be sometimes tough getting a call through, so don’t expect to place a call phone call on the first attempt 3 minutes before Obama takes his oath.  Likelihood – medium/high.
3. Chartered busses might not find parking – With upwards of 10,000 chartered busses potentially bringing people to the inauguration, where are they all to park? So far, potential places include Wolf Trap, JFK Stadium, Hanes Point, and more so parking should not be an issue. Likelihood – low.
4. Getting people from chartered busses at remote parking areas to the National Mall — Getting upwards of a half a million people to the Mall and then back again quickly will be an issue. So see #1. Likelihood – high.
5. Grocery stores will run out of staples – With a million-plus people who are not staying in hotels looking for items such as as bread and milk, grocers may run out quickly.  While the hint of a snowfall in the area causes some people to rush out and hoard 200 rolls of toilet paper and 40 gallons of milk, I doubt that retailers will miss the opportunity to stock up and make big bucks form our out of town visitors. Likelihood – very low.
6. Parking at Metro rail station will not accommodate all the cars — With only 60,000 parking spaces spread out over 42 stations, if you don’t get to the Metro very, VERY early, chances are you won’t get a parking spot. Again, see #1. Likelihood – very high.
7. Getting a meal on the Mall will require an act of Congress — You should be able to find plenty of hot dog vendors around the Mall on inauguration day. But if you want to wait out the exit rush after the ceremony, at a restaurant anywhere near the Mall, expect a multi-hour wait. Likelihood – high.
8. Restroom facilities will be tough to find – DC does a great job at having enough porta-potties at most major events in the Mall, so this shouldn’t be an issue. Likelihood – low.
9. Finding a taxi to get to or from the Mall – With all the expected street closures, security checkpoints, rerouted traffic patterns, and the massive crowds all heading to the same place, finding a cab (or for that matter, a cabbie willing to bring his cab anywhere near the expected gridlock on Mall that day) is unlikely. Likelihood – medium.
10. People will simply grin and bear it — In the crowd that descends on Washington, DC, there will be some complainers who expect a seat on the Metro train, a table at a restaurant just blocks from the Capitol, parking garages to have open spots an hour before the inauguration ceremony and no hassles getting to and from the Mall.  But I hope people will just expect the worst and smile when things go well.  Likelihood – high.

So what do you think?  Will Washington, DC handle the crowds or will it be a tourism nightmare?  Make a comment below.

Image – Flickr – 2005 inauguration

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Image – from personal collection – ©2008, Jon Rochetti
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Post from: The DC Traveler

Images – from personal collection   ©2008, Jon Rochetti 
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Post from: The DC Traveler

I’ve seem estimates ranging from about a million to over 5 million.

So what do you think?  Take the latest poll and tell us…

How many people will attend the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama in Washington, DC on January 20, 2009?

• Less than 500,000
• 500,000 to 1 million
• 1 to 2 million
• 2 to 3 million
• 3 to 4 million
• 4 to 5 million
• over 5 million

For some historical references:

• In 1965, the inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson, drew the largest inaugural crowd, estimated at 1.2 million.
• In 2005, for the inauguration of President George W. Bush’s second term, crowds were estimated at 400,000, a hundred thousand more than his first inauguration in 2001.

• Approximately 250,000 gathered at the U.S. Capitol for Bill Clinton’s second term inauguration, a significantly smaller number than his first term about 800,000 people attended in 1993.
• George H. Bush Sr.’s inauguration in 1989 drew about 300,000.
• John Kennedy’s inauguration, a day snow fell in DC, drew an estimated 1 million in 1961.
• A small crowd attended the second Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration in 1865 (see photo above).

Image – Lincoln

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Drivers that may be alcohol impaired or unable to safely drive can request a free taxi ride to their home, up to a maximum cost of $50, through January 1, 2009.

It’s never wise to drive after indulging and especially during the holiday season. Again this year, area police will be establishing sobriety checkpoints around the region.

Most years, Metro DC police set up approximately 30 during holiday season, including some surprising locations. One year, I saw a check point in the heart of Georgetown, catching post-happy hour drivers.

Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland all have a .08 blood alcohol content (BAC) limit for a establishing DUIs, and Maryland adds a .07 for a DWI.

The penalties for a receiving a first-time DUI are severe, including losing your license, fines, points, and possible jail time.  Washington, DC also requires mandatory jail time of a minimum of 5 days for drivers arrested with a BUC in excess of .20. While Virginia also has mandatory jail time for higher BACs on the first offence, resulting in 5-15 days if the BAC is over .15.

The SoberRide program is in effect daily only between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. and offered to licensed drivers at least 21 years old.

The rider (or person who requested the cab) is responsible for any fare on the meter over $50.

Call 1-800-200-TAXI (8294) from any Washington, DC , Virginia or Maryland mobile phone, pay phone or landline and mention “SoberRide”.

Calls and rides can originate from any of the following locations:

• District of Columbia
• Maryland – Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, or the cities of Rockville, Bowie, College Park, Gaithersburg, Greenbelt and Takoma Park
• Virginia – Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William and Eastern Loudoun Counties, or the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas and Manassas Park

A total of 17 area taxi companies are participating this year.

Image – Flickr – checkpoint
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Post from: The DC Traveler

Will  you be attending the Inauguration on January 20th in Washington DC?

Here’s the results:

• Yes, wouldn’t miss it!! – 32%
• No,  I’ll watch it on TV. – 32%
• Planning on it, but still working on details – 18%
• I’m going to Disneyland, no crowds that day – 18%

So it looks like a good number of people who voted (50%), have plans to attend President-elect Obama’s Inauguration on January 20, 2009.

And here’s the new poll…. and in

Should Washington, DC officials allow restaurants, bars and night clubs to extend hours and serve alcohol until 5 a.m. during Inauguration Week?

For some background, the DC City Council approved emergency legislation (proposed by the local Restaurant Association of) to allow restaurants, bars and nightclubs to serve alcohol until 5:00 a.m. for the four days leading up to Inauguration Day.

Normally, establishments serving alcohol in Washington, DC must close at 2:00 a.m. on weekdays, and 3:00 a.m. on weekends.

The reports imply that the city council feels that extended drinking hours would encourage people to safely celebrate indoors, versus taking to the streets to celebrate.

Yet two U.S. senators (Diane Feinstein, CA-D, and Bob Bennett, UT-R) sent a letter to the city council and Mayor Fenty asking them to reverse the legislation. The DC police union also has reportedly been lukewarm on the concept, stating that the police will be stretched thin enough without bars and clubs remaining open an additional couple hours.

The Metro subway system will still close weekdays from midnight to 5:00 a.m., and between 3:00 and 7:00 a.m. on weekends, except on Inauguration Day, when it will run from 4:00 a.m. Monday until to 2:00 a.m. Tuesday morning.

So what do you think? Will keeping bars open three hours later add to party atmosphere, and keep the streets safer?  Or will it have the opposite effect by reducing police protection citywide and increase the number of drunk drivers, fights and arrests in DC?

Cast your vote below and to the right —>

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Post from: The DC Traveler

With posts submitted from around the globe, here’s a few of the highlights.

• Audrey at Cracks in the Sidewalk tells us about a bunch of things to do in New York City, including attending Tuba Christmas at the Rockefeller Center Ice Skating Rink.
• Spending Christmas on the road? Read what a travel pro Mary Jo recommends at Fly Away Cafe for enjoying Christmas dinner away from home.
• Byteful Travel presents The Annual Holiday Music Extravaganza in Dallas.
• Finally, if you haven’t made your holiday plans, Patrick at Cash Money Life tells us how to get the best holiday travel deals, and to grab a great fair if you find it.

See them all at Fly Away Cafe.

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Post from: The DC Traveler

The new Metro website includes:

• A new interactive subway map that provides a pop-up with the station’s address (great for GPS users), link to Google maps, arrival times for the next few trains and any service alerts for that station.
• Real-time subway and bus status reports.

• Mobile services for WAP-capable cell phone or PDAs – including the Trip Planner, next scheduled departure for bus and subway trains, next train arrival time, and service alerts.
• E-alerts and RSS feeds, with options by subway line and period of day. Options include for trains, elevators and service disruptions.

• Metro subway map for your iPod.
• A much improved, but still not perfect, service finder option, that allows you to enter an address and find Metro service nearby. It still lacks listing the nearest Metro subway station, regardless of distance. So if there is not a subway station near by, people who ride the subway and then prefer to grab a cab, versus a bus, will still need to do some extra work to determine the nearest subway station at a location, especially in the suburbs.
• Links to suburban and commuter bus services that connect with Metro.
• Visitor’s Kit with a downloadable and printable Metro Guide in 11 languages.
• Information about delays, detours, and service during major events, such as the upcoming inauguration or sporting events.

Sadly, Metro did not link some of the more popular old pages to the new pages, so the old Metro links on older The DC Traveler posts will now link to a “page not found” page.  I did speak to a very helpful web designer at Metro, Lance Lucas, and he mentioned that many of the old links (hopefully the one I regularly used on all my earlier posts) would be routed to new pages as time allows.

Image – courtesy of WMATA.

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Happy Thanksgiving!

Image- Flickr
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Post from: The DC Traveler

The new 580,000 sq. ft. underground center will offer visitors two orientation theaters, showing a 13-minute video about the Capitol Building and American democracy.   Additionally, the building hosts several gifts shops and multiple (and much needed) restroom facilities.

A few of the notable artifacts provided by the Library of Congress and National Archives to be on display include, a letter to Congress written by General George Washington, and the original Franklin Roosevelt “Day of Infamy” speech, the President delivered on to a joint session of Congress on the day after the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and other U.S. installations, December 8th, 1941.

Visitors can get free Capitol Building tour tickets at the center.

U.S. Capitol Visitor Center
East Capitol Street at East Capitol Circle
Washington, DC 20004 (map it)

Dates and Times – Daily, except Sundays, 8:45 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Tickets – Capitol Building tours are offered daily, except Sundays.  The Center will be closed on Inauguration Day, and other major holidays.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Capitol South – Blue and Orange lines, then a 3-block walk or use the DC Circulator.

Parking – Limited metered street parking is available in the area. Parking is available at Union Station, about 6 blocks away. 

Images – courtesy of The Architect of the Capitol
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Post from: The DC Traveler