L.A. Marathon: Plan for widespread street closures, warm weather
As runners and walkers make their way from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica during Sunday’s L.A. Marathon, motorists will face widespread rolling street closures that will surround the route.
The street closures will be in various places in Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica.
To try to ward off congestion and commuter frustration, marathon officials have issued a course closure grid, a map of additional streets that will be closed on Sunday and various other maps and tools to navigate across the county on Sunday.
L.A. Marathon organizers warned that road closures will begin at 3 a.m. and be in full effect three hours later. Crossing the course will not be permitted. The race begins at 7 a.m., with streets reopening on a rolling basis as approved by public safety officials.
Freeways around Los Angeles County will mostly be unaffected by any closures, save for some ramps that will be shut down for several hours.
Meanwhile, Metro officials are promoting public rail transit as the best way to navigate around the closures. They also urged bus riders to take rail lines to avoid “lengthy bus detours and delays,” according to a news release from the agency.
There will be free, nonstop bus shuttles starting at 5 a.m. Sunday between Santa Monica and the Culver City Expo Line Station. Those who want to take the shuttle can board the Santa Monica-bound buses at Washington Boulevard just south of the Expo Culver City Station.
Buses to Culver City can be caught at Olympic Boulevard and 11th Street in Santa Monica.
Officials in West Hollywood and other cities along the route are also sending out advisories to residents regarding street closures, and suggesting the public follow local official Twitter accounts for announcements as streets reopen.
There is also a map on Commuterama.com that is designed to help motorists avoid the closures and let those who want to cheer on the marathoners know how they can navigate the route.
Meanwhile, weather officials say Sunday will be partly cloudy, but warm.
Scott Sukup of the National Weather Service in Oxnard said that the temperature around race time Sunday in downtown L.A. will likely be in the mid-50s and then heat up into the low 80s later in the day.
“It should be a pretty nice day -- warm, it’ll be warm by the afternoon,” Sukup said, adding that there was no chance of precipitation.
And don’t forget to spring clocks forward an hour for Daylight Savings Time at 2 a.m. Sunday.
Twitter: @aribloomekatz
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