Operation Fast Forward was a major test of emergency plans to evacuate large numbers of people from the downtown area of Washington, DC. It was conducted in conjunction with the end of the annual fireworks display on the National Mall on 4 July 2005.
A large number of people traditionally leave the area in the fifteen minutes following the show, and so it was decided to use this annual phenomena to test the emergency plan. Additional subway cars and modifications to the pattern used by the traffic signals are among the elements of the plan.