At D.C.'s Party, Spectacle and Security

Revelers gathered on the Mall to celebrate the Fourth of July yesterday, combining the traditional hot dogs, parades and pyrotechnics with a sobering nod to post-Sept. 11 reality: a test of evacuation routes to be used in the event of a terrorist attack.

At the end of an otherwise celebratory day, police set "Operation Fast Forward" into motion at 9:50 p.m., just 15 minutes after the fireworks ended. Over the next 45 minutes, officers directed motorists to four evacuation routes, known as E-routes, where green lights were lengthened from 70 seconds to three minutes, followed by one minute of red.

Although the timed lighting appeared to work as planned, at least one area initially experienced slow going. A snag at 12th Street and Constitution Avenue NW resulted from traffic barriers placed by U.S. Park Police to allow pedestrians to leave safely. The barriers created gridlock until they were cleared at 10:10 p.m., with the exercise half over.

Police officers with yellow vests and bullhorns ordered pedestrians to use the sidewalks and crosswalks. And by 10:30 p.m., traffic was moving smoothly.

When the drill ended at 10:35 p.m., lights on a map at the city's command center in the Reeves Municipal Center gradually winked from blue to green. By now, traffic was flowing smoothly throughout the city. "I think it went well," said Michelle Pourciau, deputy director of the D.C. Department of Transportation. "Every quarter except Constitution worked just as we expected it to. . . . As soon as it was opened up, traffic was cleared out."

In an evaluation of the drill that will take days or weeks, the department will examine why there were delays in opening up Constitution Avenue, she said.

After the traffic jams in the District on Sept. 11, 2001, officials expressed concern that the region's transportation web could not handle a citywide evacuation of panicked residents.

At several Metro stations, people were packed shoulder to shoulder. Outside the Archives-Navy Memorial Station, for example, a line of several hundred people stretched a block.

Metro was busy most of the day. By 10 last night, more than 458,000 passengers had gone through the turnstiles, significantly more than the entire day's total of 363,000 on Fourth of July last year. Metro officials attributed the increase to the Nationals-Mets game at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and the nice weather.

The evacuation test capped a day traditionally devoted to events that extol the nation's liberties and struck home the significance of a Fourth of July held against the backdrop of war and terrorism. Spectators waited patiently in long lines at security checkpoints and rested on the newly completed granite security walls that encircle the Washington Monument.

The day began with an old-fashioned show of patriotism along Constitution Avenue, with a mile of marching bands, floats and a soaring Uncle Sam balloon that elicited cheers from flag-waving crowds.

Jeff Hicks, 43, of Arlington passed on red, white and blue garb in favor of a more personal show of pride -- a bone, bead and feather breastplate and choker. He said it symbolized protection, healing and peace for POWs and MIAs, veterans and cancer survivors.