Washington’s first Freedom 250 Grand Prix kicks off this weekend. But the city’s residents have already spent much of the week experiencing the less glamorous side of hosting a street race.
Before cars scream through the nation’s capital, crews must turn functioning city streets — in this case, much of the National Mall area — into a course. That brings road closures and detours, complicates access to businesses and forces residents and commuters to find another way around.
It’s a tradeoff that cities from Detroit to Las Vegas have confronted with their own downtown races. And officials there say the biggest challenge isn’t necessarily race weekend itself. It’s figuring out how to put on a major event without making the surrounding city grind to a halt…