EAST GREENWICH — The East Greenwich High School band is making final preparations to go to Washington, D.C., to march in Tuesday’s Obama inauguration after the Town Council voted Monday night to appropriate as much as $5,000 for the trip.

“We’re set to roll. We’re practiced up. Uniforms are pressed. The money came through last night and it helped put us right over the top,” band director Brendan Carniaux said yesterday.

The state put up another $5,000 because East Greenwich will be representing Rhode Island in the parade.

In all, $56,000 had to be raised for the trip, with each of the 89 students chipping in $275. They will be accompanied by 13 adults, crammed into 30 rooms in a Baltimore hotel.

“It’s quite an honor for the town and the students to participate,” said council President Michael B. Isaacs. “I know these are difficult financial times, but this really is an historic opportunity.”

Carniaux said the group will be bused to Baltimore on Sunday, rest up for a day, and then be at the Pentagon by 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. The group has a special pass to use roads that will be closed in anticipation of the crush of spectators.

“We’re allowed to use pretty much whatever road we want that day,” he said.

At the Pentagon, the group will get checked out by the Secret Service, and then be escorted by the police to the National Mall, where they will rendezvous with a military escort that will stay with them throughout the parade.

Then they wait. The band isn’t scheduled to start marching until 3:50 p.m. or so. It is expected that the students will march for 20 to 25 minutes.

The group returns Wednesday.

Nearly 2 million people are expected to descend on Washington that day, and the police will be shutting down a large chunk of the city and the bridges crossing the Potomac River. Traffic on Interstates 395 and 66 will also be severely restricted coming into the city.

gemery@projo.com