Thursday, March 26, 2009

Traffic Patterns During National Cherry Blossom Festival

During the National Cherry Blossom Festival, the United States Park Police will implement a traffic pattern to facilitate the safe flow of traffic and mitigate congestion in the downtown Washington area.

Saturday March 28 2009, at about 5:00am, all traffic into West and East Potomac Park will enter from Maine Avenue at East Basin Drive.

Traffic in East Potomac Park, generally the Haines Point area, will flow normally.

Traffic in West Potomac Park will be substantially altered in that Ohio Drive along the Potomac River will flow northbound only. As such, there will be no access into West Potomac Park from 23rd Street and Independence Avenue.

This traffic pattern will remain for the entire National Cherry Blossom Festival.

As always, parking is limited and visitors are encouraged to use public transportation with the Smithsonian and Foggy Bottom Stations being the nearest to the activities.

The most convenient parking areas will be the A, B, and C lots along Ohio Drive Potomac River side in the area of the 14th Street Bridge. Additionally, there will be parking on Haines Point and limited parking in West Potomac Park on Ohio Drive along the Potomac River.

Handicapped parking is available on the west curb of Ohio Drive in the area of the Tennis Bubble, the north and south curbs of West Basin Drive adjacent to the FDR Memorial. There are also handicapped spaced at various locations throughout the parking areas.

There will be a free bicycle valet parking program on April 3rd and 4th from 9:00 am until 7:00 pm on the south side of the Jefferson Memorial.

Tourmobile will offer a free Cherry Tree viewing shuttle from the Jefferson Memorial around Haines Point with nine stops along the route.