For the parade, thousands of spectators lined Pennsylvania Avenue NW, standing six and seven deep, hoping for a glimpse of the president and first lady. Katrina Way, 34, of Jacksonville, Ark., stood in back of at least five people, swaying side to side and shaking her legs, trying to stay warm. Way, a ticket holder, had tried two security checkpoints before finding one with only a 30-minute wait that let her get toPennsylvania Avenue in time for the festivities. "I wanted to be a part of history," she said. Although she was not entirely satisfied with her view, "just being out here" is enough, she said. You can sense hope in the air. A late surge of attendees swamped entrances at the Blue and Orange gates about 10:30 a.m. creating long lines and concerned faces. Crowds filing in fromUnion Station found lines three blocks long at the Blue gate, which extended two blocks from the Russell Senate Office building toward D Street NE. Outside the Orange gate, at First and and C streets NW, the line formed for two blocks and jammed the intersection at D Street as thousands of people gathered. D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the initial crowds at three Metro stations near the Mall were worrisome about 7 a.m. "There was a large group of people," Lanier said. But the crowd broke up fairly quickly and the flow of people became steady. Although she would not estimate the number of people attending the inaugural festivities, she said, "It's a much larger crowd than I anticipated." She added: "People are doing really well following the signs. ... I've given lots and lots of directions to people out there today. ... People are being very friendly. They are being wonderful. About 9:30 am, two women approached a police officer near the Green security gate at Second and C Streets NE to ask if officials planned to open more space inside. The women said they had arrived at 8:15 a.m., quickly made their way past security, then ran into an unmoving wall of people. "You maybe went about 25 feet and that was it," said one of the women, identifying herself only as Paula from New York. A woman with her, who said she is from the District and gave her name only as Paige , said people were shoving and creating a "safety hazard." "I don't know how many tickets they oversold, but it has to be a ton," she said. Spectators trying to enter the parade route at F and 15 streets NW appeared to be out of luck. After a massive line built around 1 p.m. security officials stopped letting people in around 2:30 p.m. "A staff decision," a security official said. As hundreds of people streamed toward the Green gate after 11 a.m, a few dozen were headed in the opposite direction, most of them having not realized that they needed tickets to get past the gate. Angela Jenkins, a government worker from San Francisco, was among those with tickets, but she was leaving the area, anyway. "Some of us can see it a little bit better from home," she said with a smile. In a city accustomed to heightened security, the inauguration of a president means an even tighter restrictions on pedestrians and traffic in the the District, complicating the movement of up to a half million visitors to the downtown. The expansive security includes more than 2,000 extra police officers from 86 jurisdictions across the country, augmenting the D.C. police department's 3,900-member force. Police sharp shooters were manning rooftops. Even Metro Transit police had help -- 150 officers from 15 transit agencies as far away as Oregon are helping out the 450-member force. Several thousand National Guard troops helped secure the permitter around the Mall, where traffic was blocked from an area encompassing more than 150 city blocks. Metro closed three stations near or on the Mall because of security. Private jets were barred from flying into and out of Reagan National Airport and five other airports within a 30 nautical mile radius of the city. Commercial jets were not restricted. And recreational boaters could not come any closer than six miles to the city along the Potomac.