Whenever the President visits my city, they block off all the roads his motorcade travels on. Major inconvenience for traffic, but at least he only visits the city a couple times a year. I assume the Vice President gets similar treatment.
So how does the Vice President travel to the White House? I assume he visits the WH probably at least once a week. Does Washington actually blockade the streets between the White House and the Naval Observatory every week?
In DC, the streets usually don’t get blocked for a motorcade–the cars go through with sirens and pass by very quickly. I don’t know about Biden’s habits but when Cheney was VP his motorcade went by my office regularly.
I have seen street blockades when the President/VP/other VIP is getting out of the vehicle to enter or exit a building.
I seem to remember reading in the news that he has this totally sweet-ass Trans Am.
Someone I know who regularly takes the Massachusetts Avenue bus to work regularly complains that the motorcade, with Biden’s limo and his Secret Service escorts, blocks traffic in both lanes.
I always assumed Joe Biden used a segway.
Surely they’ve built him a three-mile Amtrak ride across town.
This an interesting question. Somehow, I have always assumed that there is a circuit of tunnels large enough to transport people (perhaps on golf-cart sized vehicles) that ran from the White House to the Capitol, Supreme Court Building, Naval Observatory and Washington Naval Yard. I suppose this is merely my overly fertile imagination, but it does seem somewhat plausible.
ETA: I feel a little less stupid. White House Tunnel Map
Uh, that’s not a particularly trustworthy site. The distances proposed there are enormous, and there is no way a tunnel system that elaborate could exist without someone- a utility employee, a metro employee, whatever- spilling the beans.
Not sure about Biden as I moved away in 2003, but when I lived in DC Dick Cheney’s Tie Fighter was a fairly common sight (you could tell it was his by the distinct angular wings instead of the standard flat ones). Al Gore would commute in a specially designed armored vehicle that was powered by his own sense of self satisfaction (and as you probably guessed, it could haul ass).
It even says it’s a parody of the official site.
That’s a Washington Metro map (warning: PDF) with the stations renamed. Those tunnels exist, but they have trains in them.
There are tunnels between the Capitol, the House and Senate office buildings, and the Library of Congress. They can be used by the public, once you get past security in those buildings. There’s also a private railway linking the Capitol and the House and Senate office buildings, which is only used by Senators, members of Congress and staffers. I don’t think those link up to the White House.
yeah, that’s the Washington, DC metro map. They’re kidding.
Tourists who have been cleared for a tour of the Capitol Building can also ride the subway from their congressman/senator’s office building to the capitol basement.
There is a tunnel from the White House to the Treasury Building. I’ve always assumed there’s a less-public matching tunnel over to the OEOB, too.
OK, guys. I actually knew that it was a parody site. And I lived in the DC area for about 18 months, so I recognize the Metro. I thought it was funny. I failed. Thank Og I don’t make my money as a stand-up comic.
But, when I saw this site, I thought y’all would enjoy it. The picture of Mr. Obama checking under his desk for the trapdoor to safety was priceless. You don’t have to be The Onion to be funny these days.
See, I REALLY think there are hidden tunnels below the White House. Aren’t we pretty sure that they built a bunker there during the Cold War? We have all heard about the Situation Room, for example, and I am pretty sure it exists in the basement of the West Wing. Imagine a direct attack on the White House by enemy agents or soldiers. I can’t imagine a scenario where the only way out of there was up to ground level. There must be some other way out. Therefore, I (as a younger and more politically engaged man) posited a tunnel system. At least from the White House to the Capitol and beyond to some sheltered and defensible locale or a place where a copter could transport the POTUS and crew to safety.
So, who else thinks there is some sort of subterranean transport available for congresspeople, senators or the president and vice-president to move discretely and safely between their various venues and to safety in case of a dire emergency?
Consider me whooshed!
I suspected a joke 
If there were a tunnel system, it would be known about.
Tunnels would be a security risk, rather than a boon. The Treasuring Building, White House, and Old Executive Office Building all exist within the same secure perimeter, so it would be straight forward to have a secure tunnel system between the three. Extending out of the perimeter would require additional security to patrol the tunnel. The sewers are already regularly patrolled in that city (how do you like your job now…).
We live in an era where tunnels are filled in :(, rather than expanded.
Well, not exactly the news.
Over here, even the Queen doesn’t get a motorcade - just a nice Rolls Royce.
