Block by Block, Access Denied

"If you don't have the combination of streets and pedestrian areas, the streets lose life," architect Donald Hawkins said. (Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post)

District officials, who have jurisdiction over all streets except those on the Capitol grounds, say that only Congress and the D.C. Council can close roads. In practice, the Secret Service, the State Department and Capitol Police have all acted without first discussing alternatives with the city.

"Consultation doesn't mean they've sought our approval. They've just told us what they're going to do," Tangherlini said. "It still leaves the problem in my lap."

The problem with closing streets one by one is the lack of a broader review that takes into account citywide evacuation routes and other congested spots, Tangherlini said. D.C. officials sometimes describe the scope of the problem by naming roads not yet closed.

The Energy Department, for example, wanted to block off 10th Street just south of Independence because part of the street runs under a department building.

"What happens with the Labor Department -- do they then want to close Third Street because it runs under their building?" Tangherlini asked. "Trust me, they did."

Over on Independence and Constitution avenues, hydraulic metal plates are embedded in the ground, ready to cut off traffic on both major east-west arteries at the push of a button during the next emergency, Tangherlini said.

While city officials and community leaders say they wish that he public would ask more questions about losing access -- Are we really safer? What's the price in freedom and mobility? -- there are those who shrug at the latest inconvenience.

"I would have liked to walk up the Capitol steps, but they say you can't," said Sandie Byer, a retired school secretary from Sterling who sat listening to a fountain at the base of the west front of the Capitol this week. "I can accept that because of the terrorist threat."

Her husband, Frank Byer, retired from the Navy Department, conceded that it was a tough balancing act.

"You have six million people living in the greater metropolitan area, and they have a different need than the people who visit from Iowa and Illinois and across the country. I can come in or not come in. But this is a problem your generation is going to have to solve -- how to live this way and still be free."