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Park Service Starts Barricading D.C.-Area Monuments And Memorials

By: Martin Austermuhle
October 1, 2013
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A U.S. Park Police officer watches at left as a National Park Service employee posts a sign on a barricade closing access to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
A U.S. Park Police officer watches at left as a National Park Service employee posts a sign on a barricade closing access to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013.

If running up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial or stopping to admire the statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. along the Tidal Basin is part of your morning routine, you'll have to change your habits during the shutdown of the federal government.

With Congress having failed to agree to a spending plan for federal agencies, the National Park Service isn't only shuttering parks and visitor centers across the country, but locally it is also turning off fountains and using gates and barricades to shut off the public's access to many of Washington's most iconic memorials.

As of this morning, gates were placed in front of the Lincoln Memorial, and the Park Service reports that it will also place them at the Washington Monument and memorials to King, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, World War II, and others.

Regional trails managed by the Park Service are also being closed, including the Capital Crescent Trail, where access was blocked off at the Maryland border. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association warned yesterday that the shutdown could similarly affect the Rock Creek Trail, Anacostia Riverwalk Trail and George Washington Memorial Trail.

All Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are closed, as is the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.

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