If you need to drive, bike or walk to work in downtown Washington, D.C., on Thursday, March 7, the day of the President’s annual State of the Union address, you’ve got about eight fewer roads to choose from.
Although the speech won’t start until 9 p.m., local time, between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m., major roads around the perimeter of the U.S. Capitol will be closed at various intervals in preparation.
The Washington tradition is expected to draw many to Capitol Hill tomorrow, with both chambers of Congress being in attendance, alongside lawmakers’ invited guests, media, staff and security. Supreme Court justices and members of the cabinet are also on the guest list.
As preparations for President Joe Biden’s third address unfold throughout the day, federal employees, contractors and others needing to do business in or around Capitol Hill should be advised of road closures announced Wednesday by the United States Capitol Police.
It’s not clear exactly how many federal employees in the region will be teleworking on the day of, but about 282,000 are employed in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia combined. In D.C. alone, about 61% of federal employees are telework eligible, according to Office of Personnel Management data from September.
Road closures are as follows:
At 6:30 a.m., on Thursday, March 7, the following roads will be closed to the public:
- Pennsylvania Avenue between First Street, NW, and 3rd Street, NW
- Maryland Avenue between First Street, NW, and 3rd Street, SW
- First Street between Constitution Avenue, SW, and Independence Avenue, SW
At 1:30 p.m., on Thursday, March 7, the following roads will be closed:
- First Street between Constitution Avenue, NE, and Independence Avenue, SE
- East Capitol Street between First Street and 2nd Street
At 3:00 p.m., on Thursday, March 7, the following road will be closed:
- First Street between Garfield Circle, SW and Peace Circle, NW
At 5:30 p.m., on Thursday, March 7, the following roads will be closed:
- Constitution Avenue between Louisiana Avenue, NW, and 2nd Street, NE
- Independence Avenue between Washington Avenue, SW, and 2nd Street, SE
- First Street between Constitution Avenue, NW, and Louisiana Avenue, NW
- D Street between First Street, NE, and 2nd Street, NE
- First Street between Independence Avenue, SW, and Washington Avenue, SW
- Maryland Avenue between First Street, NE, and Constitution Avenue, NE
- New Jersey Avenue between C Street, NW, and Constitution Avenue, NW
At 7:00 p.m., on Thursday, March 7, the following roads will be closed:
- 2nd Street between Constitution Avenue, NE, and Independence Avenue, SE
- Constitution Avenue between 3rd Street, NW, and Louisiana Avenue, NW
- First Street between C Street, NW, and Louisiana Avenue, NW
- Independence Avenue between 3rd Street, SW, and Washington Avenue, SW
- Washington Avenue between Independence Avenue, SW, and C Street, SW
- 2nd Street between Washington Avenue, SW, and C Street, SW
The Washington Metro-Area Transit Authority also posted advisories for metro bus detours beginning at 5 p.m.
Whether feds may be granted a telework day or early release to cope with any traffic disruptions is uncertain, and OPM has made no such announcements as of the time of publishing. However, OPM’s guidance says it works directly with the the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments, WMATA and municipal offices to determine how to respond to “special events.”
What exactly Biden will say is yet unknown, but it seems likely he will appeal, as he has done before, to the unity of the country and the need to overcome partisan conflict in a divided Congress. His speech also comes two days after Super Tuesday, which revealed Republican challenger Donald Trump dominated the primary. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who was hoping to steal the nomination from the former president, backed out of the 2024 presidential race Wednesday.
A repeat of the 2020 ballot seems all but assured, and Biden may look to inspire confidence in a second term during his formal address.
In his State of the Union address in 2022, Biden also flicked at his expectation that “the vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.” Since then, many cabinet-level agencies have been calling workers back despite unions and employees pushing back.
And, certainly, Biden’s speech comes while Congress is yet again nearing deadlines for a partial government shutdown later this month.
Molly Weisner is a staff reporter for Federal Times where she covers labor, policy and contracting pertaining to the government workforce. She made previous stops at USA Today and McClatchy as a digital producer, and worked at The New York Times as a copy editor. Molly majored in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
