Specifically, beginning at approximately 9:00 a.m., Monday, July 27, 2026 through approximately 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, between 15th Street, NW, and 17th Street, NW, to include both the northern and the southern sidewalk (a portion of the northern sidewalk will remain open for access to the Renwick Gallery); and Layfette Park, to include the interior sidewalks (the northern sidewalk adjacent to H Street, NW and a cutout at the center of Layfette Park adjacent to H Street NW will remain open to pedestrian traffic). is closed. The closure is delineated in the attached map and is further delineated by fencing. Violation is prohibited. ***Please note that these same areas are closed by means of previously articulated and announced closures occurring in these areas and the unique security requirements of the United States Secret Service associated with protecting the White House Complex. The park closure comes at the request of the United States Secret Service, to provide necessary security and to protect visiting dignitaries including performing security sweeps of the area and facilitating motorcade activity. Lesser restrictive measures will not suffice due to the Secret Service’s security-based assessment that the park area needs to be kept clear. This temporary and partial closure is not of a nature, magnitude and duration that will result in a “significant alteration in the public use pattern”. Indeed, other nearby park areas will remain open to the public and for demonstration activities. The closure will not adversely affect the park’s natural, aesthetic or cultural values; nor require significant modification to the resource management objections; nor is it of a highly controversial nature. Indeed, closures such as these are common when requested by the Secret Service for necessary protective measures for visiting foreign dignitaries. 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 will be made through media advisories, maps, 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. /s/ John Stanwich, NPS Liaison to the White House National Capital Region July 27, 2026 |
Last updated: July 27, 2026