Workers and police put the final touches on preparations as Washington braced for huge crowds at Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th U.S. president.
An unprecedented security operation is being launched in and around the capital for Obama's inauguration as the United States' first black president.
With hundreds of thousands of people expected to pack the inaugural parade route between the White House and Capitol Hill, barriers were being erected, roads closed and portable toilets placed. More than a million people are expected to view the inauguration from the National Mall. Hundreds of thousands more will pack Pennsylvania Avenue to watch the inaugural parade. All attendees will be subjected to security screening, as will the 240,000 people attending the swearing-in ceremony.
SOUNDBITES: Maribel Nicholson Choice and her daughter, Isabella, from Tallahassee, Florida; Tracy Major, from Miami, Florida
