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Since a lot of posts appeared on this blog since Bob Thomson first posted tips for July 4th, we're reposting Dr. Gridlock's July 4th suggestions below.
ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS:

* Update: D.C. Announces July 4 Closures *
* Tips For Your July 4 Weekend Getaway *

Here are some tips for those of you who decided to celebrate Independence Day locally.

Metrorail
Trains will operate from 7 a.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. Sunday. The service will come close to peak-period levels from 4 p.m. to midnight, when most people head out in search of fireworks, then return home.

Trains will run on their usual routes on all five rail lines. For the first time in many years, the Smithsonian Station will be open. But it will be designated as exit-only from 6 p.m. until the start of the fireworks, shortly after 9 p.m., and entry-only from about 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Metrorail travel advice is similar to what many of you remember from Inauguration Day: Try to avoid transferring from line to line, because of the crowding in transfer stations like Metro Center, Gallery Place and L'Enfant Plaza. Instead, walk a few blocks to the Mall. Make sure you have a round-trip fare in the way in, so you don't have to wait in a long line on the way out.

Take Metro rather than trying to drive around closed streets downtown or the big crowds walking toward the festivities. There will be free parking for nearly 60,000 cars at Metro lots and garages regionwide.

Metro doesn't plan to be doing any track maintenance this weekend, so no delays on that account.

Metrobus
The buses will be on a Saturday schedule, but some that travel near the Mall will be detoured. These routes are affected: 13, 32, 34, 36, 52, 54, 64, 70, A42, A46, A48, P6, S2, S4, V8, D6, and F4.

Also, the 4H, 7A, 13G, 16B, 16E, 16G, 16J, 16K lines will be detoured near the Pentagon and Rosslyn stations, but will have access to the stations.

You may be anxious to experiment with the Next Bus real-time information system, which returns to service today, but its computer brain won't reflect all these detours.

Baseball
There's a game Saturday at 1:05 p.m. against the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park, near South Capitol and M streets. That will mean some crowding at the Navy Yard Metrorail station and along the Green Line.

SoberRide
For those who over-celebrate, the SoberRide program will be in operation from 4 p.m. Saturday to 4 a.m.Sunday to keep the streets free of of impaired drivers. Adults can call the toll-free SoberRide phone number, 800-200-TAXI, and get a no-cost (up to a $50 fare) ride home. SoberRide is available in the District, Montgomery and Prince George's counties, and Arlington, Fairfax, eastern Loudoun and Prince William counties.

Since a lot of posts have appeared since Bob Thomson first posted these closures, we wanted to repost them to make sure everybody knew the closures impacting the area tomorrow.
ORIGINAL POST BELOW

* Tips For Your July 4 Weekend Getaway *
* Getting Around Locally on July 4 *

Law enforcement officials have announced road closures around the Mall for the July 4 festivities.

The following streets will be closed between roughly 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.:

• 4th Street from Independence Avenue, SW to Constitution Avenue, NW


• 7th Street from Independence Avenue, SW to Constitution Avenue, NW


• 15th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to Maine Avenue, SW


• 17th Street from Independence Avenue, SW to E Street, NW


• 18th Street from Constitution Avenue and Virginia Avenue


• 19th Street, NW from C Street to Constitution Avenue


• 20th Street, NW from C Street to Constitution Avenue


• 21st Street, NW from C Street to Constitution Avenue


• 22nd Street, NW from C Street to Constitution Avenue


• 23rd Street from Independence Avenue, SW to C Street, NW


• C and D Streets, NW from 17th Street to 18th Street


• Madison and Jefferson Drives from 15th Street to 3rd Street


• Virginia Avenue, NW from 18th Street to Constitution Avenue


• Constitution Avenue, NW from 14th Street to 23rd Street.


• Independence Avenue, SW from 14th Street to 23rd Street


• Memorial Bridge


• Rock Creek Parkway south of Virginia Avenue to Lincoln Memorial Circle


• Lincoln Memorial Circle and all approaches and ramps


• Ohio Drive, SW from the Inlet Bridge to Independence Avenue


• West Basin Drive, SW from Ohio Drive to Independence Avenue

The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge will remain open, but all inbound traffic must exit onto E Street. There will be no access to Constitution Avenue.

The 9th Street Tunnel and the 12th Street Tunnel will remain open except during the Independence Day Parade, which will begin at about 11:45 am and conclude at about 2:30 pm.

The following streets will be closed between about 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. for the parade:

• Constitution Avenue from 6th Street to 14th Street
• 7th and 15th Streets from Constitution Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue
• 9th, 10th, 12th and 14th Streets from Constitution Ave. to Pennsylvania Ave
• Virginia Avenue from Constitution Avenue to 21st Street
• 14th Street from Independence to Pennsylvania (Will remain closed after the parade until 11 pm)
• 3rd Street from Maryland Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue (Will remain closed after parade until 11 pm)

Parking throughout the area will be extremely limited. Residents and visitors are encouraged to take public transportation or bike to the festivities. The National Park Service and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) will provide free valet parking at two locations between 2 p.m. until 10:30 p.m.: at the corner of 15th Street and Independence Avenue, SW, and on the South side of the Lincoln Memorial. For more information, visit www.waba.org.

For more information about Independence Day events on the Mall, visit www.nps.gov/dc/july4th.

For more information about July 4 activities and road closures in Arlington, please visit www.arlingtonva.us.

The following street will be closed for the National Archives July 4 Celebration between 7:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.:

• Constitution Avenue, NW from 7th Street to 10th Street

The following street will be closed for the Palisades July 4 Parade from 11 am until 12:30 pm:

• MacArthur Boulevard, NW from Reservoir Road to Arizona Avenue

The Arlington County Police Department has announced the following closures:

• From 6:00 a.m. to midnight: Memorial Bridge/Memorial Circle and the Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial
• From 1:00 p.m. to midnight: Eastbound Washington Blvd. between I-395 (exit 8B) and Memorial Bridge • N. Meade Street from Marshall Drive to Route 50 • Marshall Drive from Route 110 to N. Meade Street • Eastbound N. Fairfax Drive from N. Pierce Street to N. Fort Myer Drive • Exit ramp from westbound Route 50 to N. Lynn Street (Rosslyn exit) • Exit ramp from eastbound Route 50 to N. Meade Street (Rosslyn exit)
• From 5:00 p.m. to midnight: Eastbound Route 50 at N. Pershing Drive (detour at N. Barton Street or Washington Blvd.)
• From 7:00 p.m. to midnight: Columbia Pike between S. Orme Street and the Pentagon • S. Joyce Street from Army Navy Drive to Columbia Pike • South Gate Road from S. Oak Street to Columbia Pike • Ramp from westbound Washington Blvd. to westbound Columbia Pike • Ramp from westbound Washington Blvd. to eastbound Columbia Pike
• From 8:30 p.m. to midnight: Ft. Myer Drive from Wilson Blvd. to the Meade St. bridge (access to the Ft. Myer Heights neighborhood will be from the Rhodes Street bridge)
• Employees requiring access to the Pentagon should enter South Parking from Army-Navy Drive or North Parking from Boundary Channel Drive.

Tomorrow, the District Department of Transportation -- along with regional transportation and public safety partners -- will have the fifth year of Operation Fast Forward, which allows participating agencies to test their emergency evacuation plans while they are expediting and managing the flow of traffic after the fireworks.

When the fireworks end, the District Department of Transportation will extend traffic signal cycle lengths on five of the city's 19 marked evacuation routes to 240 seconds, with the goal being to substantially clear traffic in the downtown are in 60 to 75 minutes.

As with previous years, they will also collect vehicular and pedestrian traffic data at select intersections. They will also evaluate Operation Fast Forward to ensure traffic signal timing patterns, traffic control measures and communications protocols are effective should an actual emergency impact the District.

The Operation Fast Forward test emergency routes are: Georgia Ave (from 7th and F St, NW to Georgia Ave. and Beltway), Pennsylvania Ave. eastbound, Connecticut Ave to Beltway, 14th Street southbound and K Street westbound/Whitehurst Freeway/Canal Road.

Among the agencies working on Operation Fast Forward along with the District Department of Transportation are the District Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, the District Fire and Emergency Medical Services Agency, the Metropolitan Police Department, the Virgina and Maryland Departments of Transportation, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the U.S. Capitol Police, U.S. Park Police and the counties of Prince Georges and Arlington. (Whew. Try saying that five times fast, eh?)

Metro announced this morning that the Takoma station on the Red Line will close early again (at 10 p.m.) tonight and on Sunday so that the NTSB can continue its investigation into the fatal June 22 crash.

To minimize the long delays already expected for July Fourth, Metro said the Takoma station will not close on the night of July Fourth.

But officials warn that riders should plan on waiting as long as an hour and a half to get into a metro station after fireworks on the National Mall end tomorrow night.

See the full release from Metro here.

Since a lot of posts have appeared on this blog since Bob Thomson posted these tips yesterday -- and since a lot of you planning on heading out of town might be leaving tomorrow -- we're reposting Dr. Gridlock's travel tips below.
ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS:

* D.C. Announces July 4 Closures *
* Getting Around Locally on July 4 *

Planning to drive ahead of or behind the holiday rush is always worthwhile. (Thomson)

Escaping the Washington area for the July 4 holiday should be nothing like the anxiety-provoking experience of leaving town for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It's summer now, and many people who want to get away already have gone. Still, there are some things to consider in making plans.

The transportation departments suspend almost all construction work around the holidays, so orange cones should not be a problem along your trips.
You should have no problems with the HOT lanes or the I-95 widening project in Virignia or the Arena Drive interchange project on the Beltway in Prince George's. But there are a couple of projects to know about if they're on your getaway route.

Chain Bridge: One of the three lanes is blocked off until January for a rehab project.

Route 50: Drivers will have to detour around a roundabout construction project near the junction with Route 15 in eastern Loudoun County.

Bay Bridge: The rehabilitation on the eastbound span is among the projects suspended for the holiday weekend. But the Eastern Shore is so popular in the summer and there are so few routes that you should consider timing your trip to the early morning or nighttime hours. The Maryland Transportation Authority says it expects more than 351,000 vehicles will travel the Bay Bridge from Thursday through Sunday, about the same as last year.

These are the best bets on travel times: Thursday before 3 p.m. and after 10 p.m., Friday before noon and after 10 p.m., Saturday before 7 a.m. and between 5 and 10 p.m., Sunday between 7 and 11 a.m. and after 10 p.m.

Drivers can check baybridge.com for traffic updates and live camera views, or call 877-BAYSPAN (229-7726) for a recorded announcement about traffic conditions. Some tolls went up. The toll rate for vehicles
with three axles is $9. Rates for two-axle vehicles have not changed.

Delaware: It can ruin any holiday. The state's portion of Interstate 95 is minuscule, but drivers just hate it, particularly the toll plaza at Newark, which collects in both directions and does not have highway-speed E-ZPass lanes. Use this link to get live traffic information. (I-95 in Delaware is New Castle County.) And when you get near Delaware, tune to the traffic alert radio, which is WTMC 1380 AM. (And keep your chin up: Delaware is going to use federal stimulus money to build those highway-speed E-ZPass lanes.)

Shortcuts: Veteran travelers always tell me that there are no undiscovered shortcuts, that the time of departure (very early/very late) is almost always the most important consideration in minimizing delays during holiday travel.

But for those who want to consider route options, here's one of our Commuter pages on the topic.

Here's some information about summer getaway routes to the Eastern Shore, the Blue Ridge and Deep Creek Lake.

Online sources of traffic information:
-- For Virginia, look at www.511virginia.org.
-- For Maryland, look at www.chart.state.md.us
-- For regional information, look at our Trafficpage.
-- This is The Weather Channel's page for forecasts along the Interstates.
-- The Federal Highway Administration also has a page of Traffic and Road Closure information nawtionwide.

Metro says a train malfunction outside of Arlington Cemetery on the Blue Line has been resolved, but officials warn that riders should expect lingering delays in both directions.

The Beltway is getting congested at the height of rush hour as commuters get home and others head out of town for the long weekend.
Updates from around Northern Virginia...

-- An accident in the city of Alexandria has closed the south right shoulder of I-395. Traffic is backed up about two miles.

-- Congestion is causing even heavier backups heading northbound on I-395. VDOT advises that congestion is behind a four-mile traffic backup in Fairfax. There's a two-mile backup at the 14th St. bridge from congestion.

-- I-495 in Fairfax County, both north- and southbound, is backed up between six to eight miles because of heavy traffic.

--I-66 delays continue from earlier.

For updates on road conditions, see Virginia's DOT web page.

UPDATED POST (4:47 p.m.): Pennsylvania Avenue has now reopened in both directions. District Department of Transportation filled and plated the hole. Spokesman John Lisle says crews will make permanent repairs next week.

UPDATED POST (4:15 p.m.): Frank Pacifico, street and bridge maintenance manager for the District Department of Transportation, tells The Post's Greg Gaudio that crews expect to fill the sinkhole with concrete, cover it with a steel plate and reopen eastbound lanes by 5 p.m.

ORIGINAL POST: A four-foot wide by four-foot long, five-foot deep sinkhole opened up in the 2600 block of Pennsylvania Ave. NW this afternoon. It is causing ongoing diversions and will affect the rush hour commute.

(DDOT Photo)

The D.C. Department of Transportation is working to cover the hole with a plate, pending a more permanent repair.

Eastbound traffic was blocked for a few minutes, but crews have reopened two lanes for eastbound traffic between 28th and 29th streets. That means that westbound traffic is now being diverted from Pennsylvania Ave onto 26th, then onto M St, and back to Pennsylvania Ave. This will cause delays.

John Lisle, spokesman for the District's Department of Transportation, says he does not know how long the diversion will last, but he expects crews will cover the hole sometime this afternoon.

UPDATE (4:30 p.m.): Kansas Ave. is open again. The incident ended with one arrest and no
injuries, according to Washington Post reporter Yamiche Alcindor.

ORIGINAL POST (12:44 p.m.): Washington Post staff writer Yamiche Alcindor reports of street closures in Washington due to a police situation. The closures are on Kansas Avenue from Gallatin to Ingraham streets.

District Department of Transportation spokesman John Lisle confirms the closures, but cannot confirm why.

According to Alcindor's report, individuals barricaded themselves inside a house, and neighbors say it's because they were served with an eviction notice but refused to leave. The situation began early this morning and by 9 a.m. police surrounded the house in the 5200 block of Kansas Avenue.

A lot of Get There readers are expressing frustration with continuing delays on the Red Line. Please let us know your story.

Have you been avoiding the Metro altogether after the tragic accident that killed nine and injured more than 70 last Monday? Taking the bus? Driving?

If you're still taking the Red Line, are you leaving for work earlier? How much longer is it taking to get home? Any tips for other riders about avoiding delays?

Comments are open, or you can e-mail us directly at hohmannj@washpost.com.

Metro General Manager John Catoe responded to questions in an online chat on the WMATA web site this afternoon.

He suggested that the Red Line trains, currently restricted to speeds no greater than 35 miles per hour, might speed up this weekend to alleviate congestion.

A spokesman says Metro officials are meeting with NTSB investigators this afternoon, and transit officials will decide after what speeds Red Line trains will run over the holiday weekend.

"There is no action we can take to alleviate the crowded conditions until we can return to normal speeds," Catoe said in the chat.

You can read the full transcript of the chat here.