New York City Marathon runners won’t be the only miserable people trying to get around the city on Sunday — drivers will have their own share of obstacles to contend with.
Just as the race visits all five boroughs, streets will be closed throughout the city to make room for the 50,000 runners traversing through Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island in somewhere between two and eight hours.
Heather Khalifa/AP
Runners make their way through Brooklyn during the New York City Marathon, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
In Manhattan, First Avenue will be closed between East 59th Street and the Willis Avenue Bridge into the Bronx. Additionally, Fifth Avenue will be closed from 90th Street up to 138th Street; the roads on the western side of Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem are part of the course as well. Central Park South (59th Street from Columbus Circle to Fifth Avenue) will also be shut down.
Brooklyn will be dealing with the most road closures, starting from when the race enters the borough on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. Perhaps the longest closure is on Fourth Avenue, which will be shut down from 94th Street all the way north to Flatbush Avenue.
The race then reaches Flatbush Ave., which will be closed for only a brief stretch to Lafayette Avenue, which is closed between Flatbush and Bedford Avenues. Bedford Ave. is then closed until Nassau Avenue, and Nassau Avenue is closed from Bedford to Manhattan Avenues.
From there, runners will make a series of smaller turns through Brooklyn and Queens, resulting in the closures of:
Manhattan Avenue between Nassau Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue
Greenpoint Avenue between Manhattan Avenue and McGuinness Boulevard
McGuinness Boulevard (Southbound) between Greenpoint Avenue and Pulaski Bridge
11th Street between Pulaski Bridge/Jackson Avenue and 48th Avenue
48th Avenue between 11th Street and Vernon Boulevard
Vernon Boulevard between 48th Avenue and 10th Street
10th Street between Vernon Boulevard and 44th Drive
44th Drive between 10th Street and Hunter Street
Hunter Street between 44th Drive and Crescent Street
Crescent Street between Hunter Street and Queens Plaza South
Queens Plaza South between Crescent Street and 23rd Street
Marathoners will then cross the Queensboro Bridge — one of five cross-borough bridge closures in the route, the others being the Verrazzano-Narrows from Staten Island to Brooklyn, the Pulaski Bridge from Brooklyn to Queens, and the Willis Avenue and Madison Avenue bridges between Manhattan and the Bronx.
The street closures in the Bronx are:
East 135th Street between Willis Avenue and Alexander Avenue
Alexander Avenue between East 135th Street and East 138th Street
East 138th Street between Alexander Avenue and 3rd Avenue
3rd Avenue between East 138th Street and East 139th Street
Morris Avenue between East 139th Street and East 140th Street
East 140th Street between Morris Avenue and Rider Avenue
Rider Avenue between East 140th Street and East 138th Street
East 138th Street between Rider Avenue and Madison Avenue Bridge
Despite the extensive closures, Sunday is not designated an official gridlock alert day by the city. The entire list of road closures, including auxiliary closures and reopening times is available from New York Road Runners.