Private Tour Buses to Be Banned Near Capitol

DURING THE TERROR SCARES of 2004, it was not uncommon for police officers on Capitol Hill to stop Metrobuses on Independence Avenue to check for suspicious packages. To this day, the Capitol Police stand at the ready on the edges of the congressional campus to stop any suspicious vehicle from entering the protected domain of the legislative branch. Barriers embedded in the street can pop up at a moment's notice, too, to secure the major thoroughfares heading past the Capitol.

Now, private tour buses are set to be banned from crossing the congressional campus on Independence Avenue, Constitution Avenue and First Street, on the east and west side of the Capitol, Roll Call's John McArdle reports.

This being Capitol Hill, there's naturally a tie to the long-delayed, over-budget and logistically challenged Capitol Visitor Center, which is currently under construction beneath the Capitol's East Front: With such a ban in place, how exactly are private tour buses supposed to reach the CVC, where bus drop-off points had been worked into the design?

In McArdle's story, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton brought up another logistical concern: If tour buses are turned away from the Capitol, how might that impact residents of Capitol Hill, who are likely to see buses cut through residential side streets to navigate around the no-bus zone?

» "Bus Ban Coming to Hill" [Roll Call, subscription req'd]

Photo by Michael Grass/Express