The Office of Personnel Management is pushing federal agencies to allow employees to telework Wednesday to help ease traffic congestion stemming from the 50th anniversary celebration of the March on Washington.

Thousands of people are expected to converge on the capital to commemorate the 1963 civil rights march at which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech

“OPM strongly urges the use of telework to keep the government operating while helping to minimize traffic congestion and unproductive time during this event,” Acting OPM Director Elaine Kaplan wrote in an Aug. 23 memo to agency chief human capital officers. “Employees who can be spared from their duties may also request to adjust their work schedule and use their alternative work schedule day off or take annual leave, leave without pay, and/or previously earned compensatory time off or earned credit hours under a flexible work schedule.”

Those employees who are still planning on heading into the office should expect disruptions to both their morning and evening commutes.

“Due to the increase in traffic, road closures and related commuting disruptions on this day, federal employees who work in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area should expect significant commuting delays and travel disruptions,” Kaplan wrote in the memo. “Those employees should allow extra time for travel to and from work, whether by private vehicle or public transportation.”

Among the festivities is a 1.6 mile march down Constitution Avenue to the Lincoln Memorial.

The federal government will remain open on Aug. 28.

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