In celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence, the Freedom 250 Grand Prix will take place in Washington, D.C., including on the National Mall, on August 22 and 23, 2026.
Pursuant to 36 C.F.R. § 1.5, beginning on June 22, 2026, the National Park Service (NPS) imposed and will continue to impose a temporary closure of, and public use limit in, certain designated parklands at the National Mall and Memorial Parks in conjunction with the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, as delineated in the map below and as further delineated by fencing or other physical barriers.
These closures and public use limits are necessary to provide for public and worker safety and while event set up is completed, as confirmed by the evaluation of the United States Park Police (USPP). This Record of Determination (ROD) formalizes these temporary closures, further described below, and extends them, to the degree necessary to complete load in of the Grand Prix until August 13, 2026. This ROD extends some of the closures already in place following the Great American State Fair and FIFA Fan Zone. Due to the overlap in load in and load out of these events, the extension of some closures is necessary. USPP has confirmed these closures are necessary for public safety and that less restrictive measures would not suffice. Closures will be lifted as soon as they are no longer necessary, restoring access to the public as soon as practicable. Violation is prohibited.
It is anticipated that an updated record of determination containing more closure details for the week preceding the event as well as the event itself will be issued in mid-August. Information to support a full enumeration of public use limits for the event is not yet available.
Specifically, there will be temporary visitor access restrictions of the following locations:
Road Closures
Madison Drive NW, and Jefferson Drive SW between 3rd and 7th Street
Starting at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22, 2026, a full road closure to the public will be in effect through 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, August 13, 2026.
It is expected that these closures will continue past August 13, 2026, as other area closures are implemented in the run up to the Grand Prix event. Public notices on additional closures will be shared as soon as information is available. This temporary and partial closure and public use limit is not of a nature, magnitude and duration that will result in a “significant alteration in the public use pattern.” Further, the public use limit and closure will not adversely affect the parks’ natural, aesthetic or cultural values, is not of a highly controversial nature, and does not require a long-term or significant modification in the resource-management objectives of any affected park. Rather, these closures are limited temporally and geographically as much as practicable while still providing for the safety and security of this event, which is similar in certain respects to other events, including having wide appeal to the general public both locally and from further away. This closure decision still allows for public access to a significant amount of park land after security screening and around the impacted areas. Closures and public use limits such as these are commonplace for these types of public events with large, expected attendance and significant load-in and load-out requirements, and are necessary to provide the public with as much access as possible to park land while also addressing the event security and public safety concerns that the United States Park Police has identified for this event.
Accordingly, the National Park Service determines publication as rulemaking in the Federal Register is unwarranted under 36 C.F.R. § 1.5(b). This is consistent with hundreds of earlier partial and temporary park closures or public use limitations, the legal opinion of the Office of the Solicitor, and judicial adjudications. Mahoney v. Norton, No. 02-1715 (D.D.C. August 29, 2002), plaintiff’s emergency motion for injunction pending appeal denied Mahoney v. Norton, No. 02- 5275 (D.C. Cir. September 9, 2002) (per curiam); Picciotto v. United States, No. 99-2113 (D.D.C. August 6, 1999); Picciotto v. United States, No. 94-1935 (D.D.C. September 9, 1994); Picciotto v. Lujan, No. 90-1261 (D.D.C. May 30, 1990); Picciotto v. Hodel, No. 87-3290 (D.D.C. January 26, 1988); Spiegel v. Babbitt, 855 F. Supp. 402 (D.D.C. 1994), aff'd in part w/o op. 56 F.3d 1531 (D.C. Cir. 1995), reported in full, 1995 US App. Lexis 15200 (D.C. Cir. May 31, 1995). Pursuant to 36 C.F.R. § 1.7, notice of this temporary and partial closure and public use limit will be made through media advisories, maps, fencing, and by posting at conspicuous locations in the affected park areas. Finally, pursuant to 36 C.F.R. § 1.5(c), this determination is available to the public upon request.
The United States Park Police concurs with the Record of Decision and these closures are necessary for public safety and security.
Kevin L. Griess, Superintendent /s/ 7/22/2026
