Baltimore City is warning drivers to brace for road closures, parking restrictions and commercial vehicle limits for the Baltimore Running Festival on Saturday, Oct. 17. The changes will hit downtown Baltimore through much of the day as the 25th annual race event unfolds.
About 15,000 runners are expected, according to the Baltimore City Department of Transportation, and the main marathon will start at Paca and Camden Streets at 8 a.m. The festival also includes the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Half-Marathon, the Royal Farms 5K and the apgfcu 10K, all of which will send traffic changes across the city’s race routes.
Parking restrictions begin at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16 and run through 6 p.m. Saturday, while commercial vehicle restrictions take effect from 2 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday in downtown Baltimore. During that window, commercial vehicles including tanker trailers will not be allowed in the downtown and Inner Harbor areas, though cabs, buses and other mass transportation vehicles are exempt.
The city said phased traffic modifications will be in place along all race routes throughout the day, and Police and Transportation Enforcement Officers will let traffic cross when possible. Even so, officials expect significant delays and traffic holds as restrictions are strictly enforced in downtown Baltimore, and residents and visitors were told to use alternate routes.
The friction is simple: traffic will still be allowed through when it can be, but the day is built around the race, not the road network. That means drivers moving through downtown Baltimore should expect the kind of stop-and-go disruption that lasts from the first closures on Friday evening until the last restrictions lift on Saturday afternoon.
