Thursday, October 14, 2010

Police warn motorists of road closures associated with marathon Saturday


PRESS RELEASE:

The Kansas City Police Department wants to make area motorists aware of extensive road closures that will be associated with the Kansas City Marathon on Saturday, Oct. 16.

The race will start at 7:25 a.m. with a wheelchair race, and the marathon will start at 7:30 a.m. The start and finish point of the race will be at Crown Center at Pershing and Grand Boulevard. Multiple races will be taking place, including a marathon, a half marathon, 5K and kids’ race. The marathon route runs as far as 11th Street to the north to 75th Street to the south, and Ward Parkway to the West and Paseo Boulevard to the east.

The first half of the route will be closed at the start of the race. As officers have the last runner pass by their location, they will move to the second half of the route. Officers will allow cross traffic through the route at intersections if there is a safe distance between runners. No other traffic will be allowed on the route.

Runners in the race have a six-hour time limit, so with the exception of the staging area at Crown Center, the race route should reopen by 1:30 p.m. Police advise drivers to avoid the race area if at all possible on Saturday.

For more information, check out http://www.kcmarathon.org/.