[fso301]

So more back of the envelope: it’s 1.1 miles from Freedom Park to the Capitol, and Pennsylvania is six lanes plus a middle turn lane and some sidewalks — call it 100 feet wide.

I used Google Earth ruler and get 155 ft from outer pedestrian crossing mark to outer pedestrian crossing mark on Pennsylvania Ave. To make sure Google's ruler was accurate, I used it to measure the Washington Redskins football field and it was within 5 yards.

they’re walking, marching, at something between 2 and 4 miles per hour because that’s how fast people march. Let’s choose 3 mph: that would mean a line of people marching past a single point for three hours would be about 9 miles long.

I doubt that in a demonstration setting, with people of all age and sex carrying banners, placards and signs that the crowd could have done 3mph. Probably more like 1mph-1.5mph

[voveo]

This is an excellent time lapse video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UULBKgxRGk&feature=player_embedded

It will make you dizzy.

[meyer]

I doubt that in a demonstration setting, with people of all age and sex carrying banners, placards and signs that the crowd could have done 3mph. Probably more like 1mph-1.5mph.

I was in that crowd, probably in the first 1/4 of the crowd. My estimate of our speed was around 2 mph. I'm sure that it slowed down later on, and I'll admit that we did pass a few folks on the way.

I spoke with a man from Pajama Media - his estimate was around 700,000 people, but I have no idea how good a judge of crowds he is. I know that it was a heck of a lot bigger than the typical 100,000 you'd see at a typical college football game.