Below The Beltway

If you’re not already downtown, you may as well stay home:
At the blurry line between late night and early morning, it was hard to tell whether the crowds were left over from the evening before, fresh from a long nap, or newly arrived from out of town and praying for a place to park.
Probably a [...]

Don’t count on being able to get anywhere near the District on Tuesday morning:
With extensive road and bridge closures sharply curtailing personal vehicle travel into the District, Inauguration Day’s predicted traffic nightmares could be pushed into the Washington suburbs, with motorists jockeying for spaces at outlying Metro stations and visitors vying for spaces on trains [...]

The new crowd estimates for Inauguration Day are down slightly from the high numbers estimated last months, but still pretty high:
Officials are casting doubt on an early projection that 4 million to 5 million people could jam downtown Washington on Inauguration Day, saying it is more likely that the crowd will be about half that [...]

Perhaps the most important piece of Inauguration-related planning is now in place:
Here’s the number everyone has been waiting for: There will be 5,000 porta-potties available on the Mall and along the parade route on Inauguration Day.
If officials ordered the portable restrooms based on how many people they expect that day, then figure on crowds of [...]

Remember the D.C. Council’s decision to allow bars to remain open until 5am during Inauguration week and the controversy it caused ?
Well, they’ve backed down a little bit:
D.C. bars and nightclubs will be allowed to serve alcohol until 4 a.m., not 5 a.m., during inauguration week after the D.C. Council voted last night to modestly [...]