Communications Breakdown: Crowds Cause Disruptions in Tech, Traffic Patterns

Washington, D.C., faced a logistical nightmare Tuesday as technological malfunctions mounted and barricaded roads created problems for the largest crowd the city has ever seen.

Despite months of careful preparation and a history of handling massive crowds, city police tussled with some groups trying to make their way around blocked streets and closed gates.

D.C. police officials reported that emergency medical services had replied to patients in need. A woman in the inaugural crowd collapsed and went into cardiac arrest around 9 a.m. ET on one street not far from the U.S. Capitol. Emergency workers were performing CPR on the middle-aged woman as she lay on the sidewalk, awaiting an ambulance that showed up a short time later, having navigated through the barricades and crowds.

Separately, emergency service personnel and firefighters went to the Gallery Place/China Town Metro station where traffic had stopped after a 68-year-old female was hit by a train.

Thousands were trapped inside the Third Street Tunnel that's open exclusively to foot traffic. The Third Street Tunnel is a major artery that cuts across the heart of Capitol Hill. The tunnel runs directly underneath the National Mall and under the reflecting pool on the East Front of the Capitol. Security officials decided to shut it down to regular vehicular traffic and keep it as a footpath through which to funnel pedestrians.

Hundreds, possibly 1,000 visitors liberated from the tunnel, could be seen running across the Senate lawn as newly inaugurated President Barack Obama spoke, hoping to get a last glimpse after having missed the oath of office.

Early in the morning, National Mall personnel reported no cell phone or text message service, well before most inaugural festivities were under way. Complaints ended long before Obama took the stage.

On Monday, cell phone service providers advised users not to text-message pictures, cautioning that the files might overwhelm cell phone towers.

On the city's subway, cars were jammed with inauguration goers as huge lines formed outside subway stations. By 8 a.m. ET Tuesday, Metro officials said more than 300,000 people had entered Washington's transit system.

Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said platforms are "extremely crowded." Lines are six to 10 deep at fare machines, she said.

Meanwhile, thousands of people have gathered near the parade route on Pennsylvania Ave., occasionally erupting in spontaneous cheers and chants of "open the gates!" The large crowds made it difficult for many to figure out where checkpoints into the secure area were.

Police have projected crowds ranging between 1 and 2 million for the inauguration. It's possible that attendance could top the 1.2 million people who were at Lyndon Johnson's 1965 inauguration, which is the largest crowd the National Park Service has on record.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan's inauguration drew about 500,000 people, and President Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration drew about 800,000, according to park service estimates.

FOX News' Bill Sammon, Chad Pergram and Stacy Hickman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.