D.C. traffic nightmare isn’t spooking locals

The bus is leaving — at 4 a.m., if not earlier.

Those in Augusta County bound for Washington D.C., for President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration Tuesday have taken a slew of officials’ warnings to heart, and are gearing up for a long haul over packed highways and around closed bridges.

Even so, they might not make it, or could find themselves too late to get a spot on the parade route.

“If we don’t make it, we’ll just sit on the bus,” said Vivian Vallair, who is traveling from St. Louis to Staunton and then onward to the District with two buses full of friends and family. “We have tickets to nothing ... We’ll just be happy to be in the mix for this great historical occasion.”

Virginia State Police and the Virginia Department of Transportation are preparing for thousands of buses and vehicles to travel through Virginia for the event, but have just about banned personal vehicles in the city.

Across agencies, officials are pushing the same messages: Have a plan. Expect delays.

And with only five days to go, the planning window is shrinking as attendance estimates evoke increasingly dire gridlock expectations. The District will receive emergency funding for the event and The National Weather Service has now predicted a 30-percent chance of snow.

Police are blocking off all bridges crossing the Potomac River into the District and 3.5 square miles of downtown. Even using mass transit will be dicey. Officials with Metro, the area’s transit system, said subway trains will be packed and an unresolved question for officials is how train operators and bus drivers will get to work.

Here in the county, some chartered buses carrying locals and visitors staying in area hotels are scheduled to leave before dawn.

Vallair’s group from St. Louis staying at the Best Western in Staunton, for example, will depart by 3 a.m.

“We’re providing a bag breakfast in order to help them get there through the traffic,” Carole Nelson, sales manager, said. “They want to eat on the bus ... We have had to be flexible ... and we have loved to do that.”

The group will park at RFK Stadium and ride a shuttle to scheduled events, Vallair said.

“Originally we had planned to leave at 5 or 6 a.m., but then when we heard about the 10,000 buses, we decided to rethink,” Vallair said. “We have a special time slot that we have to be at RFK stadium.”

If buses make it to the District, parking will be available on city streets.

Even so, officials announced they will close off access to the parade route once the crowd reaches capacity of 300,000.

The parade is scheduled to begin about 2:30 p.m.

Everyone will be screened at checkpoints before entering the viewing area, with some people passing through metal detectors.

U.S. intelligence officials say they know of no specific threat, but the celebration surrounding the inauguration of the nation’s first black president remains a possible target.

“I think it will be the most security, as far as I’m aware, that any inauguration has had,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

The good travel news? VDOT will provide extra portable toilets at the Interstate 66 and Interstate 95 rest areas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.