Road Closures Announced Ahead of State of the Union Address

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress Thursday night, and the U.S. Capitol Police have released a list of road closures for the hours surrounding the annual event.

When Biden takes the podium in the well of the House chamber at about 9 p.m. EST Thursday night, he will be fulfilling a requirement of Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution that states the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

It’s interesting to note that it is only in modern times — since the arrival of television, essentially — that the State of the Union has become both something of a spectacle and a traffic snarler.

President Thomas Jefferson, a great writer but reputedly poor public speaker, began the practice of simply sending a written copy of the address to Capitol Hill by messenger and that continued up until the presidency of Woodrow Wilson.

It was President Calvin Coolidge who delivered the first State of the Union broadcast on radio, in 1923 and President Harry S. Truman delivered the first broadcast on television, in 1947.

Interestingly, both of these milestones occurred in the mid-afternoon. It wasn’t until President Lyndon Johnson that the State of the Union was moved to prime time.

George W. Bush’s 2002 speech was the first available as a live webcast on the White House website.

A number of presidents have also opted not to deliver a State of the Union address during their first year in office because it would come so soon after their inaugural address and likely be largely repetitious.

Among those who went this route were Presidents Ronald Reagan, in 1981, George H.W. Bush, in 1989, Bill CLinton, in 1993, George W. Bush, in 2001, Barack Obama, in 2009, and Donald Trump, in 2017.

This year will mark the first State of the Union under the tenure of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who on Thursday will become the third speaker to sit behind President Biden during his address.

Former Speakers Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., were the other two.

Now, as for those road closures:

At 6:30 a.m., on Thursday, March 7, the following roads will be closed to the public:

• Pennsylvania Avenue between First Street, NW, and 3rd Street, NW.
• Maryland Avenue between First Street, NW, and 3rd Street, SW.
• First Street between Constitution Avenue, SW, and Independence Avenue, SW.

At 1:30 p.m., on Thursday, March 7, the following roads will be closed to the public:

• First Street between Constitution Avenue, NE, and Independence Avenue, SE.
• East Capitol Street between First Street and 2nd Street.

At 3:00 p.m., on Thursday, March 7, the following road will be closed to the public:

• First Street between Garfield Circle, SW and Peace Circle, NW.

At 5:30 p.m., on Thursday, March 7, the following roads will be closed to the public:

• Constitution Avenue between Louisiana Avenue, NW, and 2nd Street, NE.
• Independence Avenue between Washington Avenue, SW, and 2nd Street, SE.
• First Street between Constitution Avenue, NW, and Louisiana Avenue, NW.
• D Street between First Street, NE, and 2nd Street, NE.
• First Street between Independence Avenue, SW, and Washington Avenue, SW.
• Maryland Avenue between First Street, NE, and Constitution Avenue, NE.
• New Jersey Avenue between C Street, NW, and Constitution Avenue, NW.

At 7:00 p.m., on Thursday, March 7, the following roads will be closed to the public:

• 2nd Street between Constitution Avenue, NE, and Independence Avenue, SE.
• Constitution Avenue between 3rd Street, NW, and Louisiana Avenue, NW.
• First Street between C Street, NW, and Louisiana Avenue, NW.
• Independence Avenue between 3rd Street, SW, and Washington Avenue, SW.
• Washington Avenue between Independence Avenue, SW, and C Street, SW.
• 2nd Street between Washington Avenue, SW, and C Street, SW.

On Thursday, March 7, from 6:30 a.m. until approximately 11:00 p.m., tour buses will be rerouted away from the Capitol Complex.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue