Extreme Makeover Inauguration Edition

Crowds flood the intersection of 18th and E Street as they exit the District on foot.

The intersection of 18th and E Street, NW looked like a scene from ABC's popular reality show "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" on Tuesday, as thousands of trapped visitors pleaded with authorities to, "Move that bus!" As it turns out it was the District's crowd control strategy that needed a makeover.

National news reports out of Washington, D.C. have boasted that Tuesday's inaugural ceremony went off without incident and without a single arrest. The credit for that success should go to the citizens and not law enforcement authorities, who kept hundreds of thousands of visitors trapped in a maze of barricades for hours following the inaugural ceremony.

As one of the mice trapped in that maze I can say the situation teetered on the edge of patience and defiance as visitors came to realize that law enforcement had no cohesive plan for how to get millions of people out of the District.

Jumbo-trons on the Mall instructed visitors to exit via 12th or 14th Street, however both were barricaded off to anyone heading north across the parade route. "We tried to be nice and walk and now we're trapped," one couple said.

With little to no communication between law enforcement and the public, crowds relied on word of mouth the help each other navigate a way out.

Military police create a human barricade at the intersection 18th and E Street.

As we stood shoulder to shoulder at 18th and E Street, one man revolted, "Let's just take it back!" Going by numbers it would have been easy for a crowd of thousands to overthrow a handful of military police standing guard and it crossed my mind several times that I could soon find myself in the middle of a riot.

Thankfully the spirit of goodwill and unity that defined the weekend-long celebration held true and the public gave the District the glowing statistic it needed.