May 20, 1995: The day Pennsylvania Avenue closed

WASHINGTON — The Secret Service closed down Pennsylvania Avenue to vehicular traffic 20 years ago Wednesday, dismaying drive-by tourists and D.C. commuters but delighting street-hockey enthusiasts and protesters who now enjoy four lanes of open space.

The May 20, 1995 installation of barricades in front of the Treasury Building and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building — first temporary, then permanent — followed security breaches at the White House that sound all-too-familiar two decades later.

A drunken pilot flying a light plane crashed onto the South Lawn in 1994, revealing that the Secret Service did not have a working phone link to air traffic controllers. Shortly afterward, a man with an semiautomatic rifle fired at the White House before being tackled by a tourist.

But the real catalyst for the closure came from bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City weeks before.

The move was relatively uncontroversial at the time, with Republican leaders in Congress reluctantly endorsing the move. The closure presaged the post 9/11 security upgrades that would take over Capitol Hill, airports and other government installations.

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"Pennsylvania Avenue has been routinely open to traffic for the entire history of our republic," President Clinton said in his weekly radio address 20 years ago. "Through four presidential assassinations and eight unsuccessful attempts on the lives of presidents, it's been open; through a Civil War, two world wars and the gulf war, it was open. And now, it must be closed."

But Pennsylvania Avenue is increasingly closed to pedestrians, too. Today, several times a week, the Secret Service and the Park Police cordon off a segment from 15th Street to 17 Street Northwest, including Lafayette Park just north of the White House. The closures often coincide with arrivals of dignitaries, construction of security enhancements, or security breaches.

That's what happened last week, when police arrested a California man for flying a toy-sized remote-controlled aircraft in the park, clearing the area for about an hour while they checked out the device.

The White House is constructing new fencing and barriers at several vehicular entrances at E Street south of the White House, which also closed following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

C-SPAN covered the closure of Pennsylvania Avenue in 1995, interviewing annoyed-but-understanding tourists.

Follow Gregory Korte on Twitter @gregorykorte.