Traffic backed up on the Capital Beltway starting about 3 a.m. Washington subway riders were packed together like Tokyo commuters. Lines at some stations forced would-be riders to wait for hours amid the crowds seeking to return home after witnessing the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
But overall, the transportation system in the Washington region appeared to have passed with flying colors its biggest-ever stress test - moving more than 1 million people to the National Mall and inaugural parade route and getting them home.
"Metro certainly did a pretty good job," said Gene Ransom III, a Queen Anne's County commissioner who left his Kent Island home early in the morning for the inaugural. "They did a good job getting people out there and a good job getting them back."
Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari was pleased that the evening return trip was off to a good start.
"Roadways are still lighter than usual and working very well," Porcari said. He said the Maryland Transit Administration had found a way to add an early MARC train departing about 2 p.m. that wasn't on the schedule - allowing some lucky riders an early return.
Maryland transportation officials, watching the progress of traffic yesterday morning on a bank of monitors at the State Highway Administration's operations center in Anne Arundel County, expressed surprise and elation at how few vehicles were on the Capital Beltway, Interstate 95 and the Virginia bridges.
"People were leaving very, very early so the traffic spread out," said State Highway Administrator Neil J. Pedersen. "We didn't have the jam we feared."
In fact, the worst congestion to be seen from the high-tech center was nowhere near Washington. It was the familiar backup that afflicts the western side of the Baltimore Beltway each workday morning.
About 10:30 a.m., Nelson Castellanos, division administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, walked into the operations center and gazed at the television screens focused on the Capital Beltway's western crossing of the Potomac in amazement.
"There is no traffic on the American Legion Bridge," he exclaimed. "We should have an inauguration more often."
That did not mean the day was free of trials, discomfort and hours of waiting for those who decided to be part of a moment in history.
