The city of Chicago has closed dozens of roads for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon as 40,000 runners embark on the 2022 race.
Here's the full list of Chicago road closures that are in place for today's Chicago Marathon.
Road Closures
Closures issued Monday include:
- Balbo Avenue from Columbus Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Drive: until 6 a.m. Wednesday
Closures issued Wednesday include:
- Jackson Boulevard from Columbus Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Drive: until 6 a.m. Monday
Closures issued Thursday include:
- Balbo Avenue from Michigan Avenue to Columbus Drive: until 6 a.m. Monday
- Columbus Drive from Roosevelt Road to Ida B. Wells Drive: until 6 a.m. Monday
Closures issued Friday include:
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- Jackson Drive from Michigan Avenue to Columbus Drive: 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday
- Ida B. Wells Drive from Congress Plaza to Columbus Drive: 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday
- Ida B. Wells Drive from Michigan Avenue to Congress Plaza: 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday
- Congress Plaza from Van Buren Street to Harrison Street: 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday
- Columbus Drive from Monroe Street to Jackson Boulevard: 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday
- Columbus Drive from Jackson Boulevard to Ida B. Wells Drive: 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday
Closures issued Saturday include:
- Columbus Drive from Randolph Street to Monroe Street: 6 a.m. to noon Sunday
- Monroe Street from Michigan Avenue to Columbus Drive: noon to noon Sunday
- Monroe Street from Columbus Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Drive: noon to 5 p.m. Sunday
- Roosevelt Road from Columbus Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Dive: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Sunday closures include:
- Michigan Avenue from Madison Street to 9th Street: 4 a.m. to 9 a.m.
- Roosevelt Road from Michigan Avenue to Columbus Drive: 4 a.m. 6 p.m.
- Columbus Drive from McFetridge Drive to Roosevelt Road: 4 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Michigan Avenue from 9th Street to Roosevelt Road: 5:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Columbus Drive to Grand Avenue: 7 to 10 a.m.
- Grand Avenue from Columbus Drive to State Street: 7 to 10 a.m.
- State Street from Grand Avenue to Jackson Boulevard: 7 to 10:30 a.m.
- Jackson Boulevard from State Street to LaSalle Street: 7 to 10:30 a.m.
- LaSalle Street from Jackson Boulevard to Stockton Drive: 7 to 11:30 a.m.
- Stockton Drive from LaSalle Drive to Fullerton Drive: 7 to 11:45 a.m.
- Fullerton Drive from Stockton Drive to Cannon Drive: 7 from 11:45 a.m.
- Cannon Drive from Fullerton Drive to Sheridan Road: 7 to 11:45 a.m.
- Sheridan Road from Diversey Parkway to Belmont Avenue: 7 to 11:45 a.m.
- Inner Lakeshore Drive from Belmont Avenue to Sheridan Road: 7 a.m. to noon
- Sheridan Road from Inner Lakeshore Drive to Broadway Avenue: 7 a.m. to noon
- Broadway Avenue from Sheridan Road to Briar Place: 7 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
- Broadway Avenue from Briar Place to Diversey Parkway: 7 a.m. 12:30 p.m.
- Clark Street from Diversey Parkway to Fullerton Parkway: 7 a.m. 12:30 p.m.
- Clark Street from Fullerton Parkway to Webster Avenue: 7 a.m. 12:45 p.m.
- Webster Avenue from Clark Street to Sedgwick Street: 7 a.m. 12:45 p.m.
- Sedgwick Street from Webster Avenue to North Avenue: 7 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- North Avenue from Sedgwick Street to Wells Street: 7 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- Wells Street from North Avenue to Walton Street: 7 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- Wells Street from Walton Street to Wacker Drive: 7 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
- Wacker Drive from Wells Street to Monroe Street: 7 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
- Monroe Street from Wacker Drive to Halsted Street: 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
- Halsted Street from Monroe Street to Adams Street: 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
- Adams Street from Halsted Street to Damen Avenue: 7 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.
- Damen Avenue from Adams Street to Jackson Boulevard: 7 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.
- Jackson Boulevard from Damen Avenue to Halsted Street: 7 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.
- Halsted Street from Jackson Boulevard to Taylor Street: 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Taylor Street from Halsted Street to Loomis Street: 7 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.
- Loomis Street from Taylor Street to 18th Street: 7 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.
- 18th Street from Loomis Street to Halsted Street: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Halsted Street from 18th Street to 21st Street: 7 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
- 21st Street from Halsted Street to Canalport Avenue: 7 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
- Canalport Avenue from 21st Street to Cermak Road: 7 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
- Cermak Road from Canalport Avenue to Wentworth Avenue: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Wentworth Avenue from Cermak Road to 26th Street: 7 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
- 26th Street from Wentworth Avenue to Michigan Avenue: 7 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
- Michigan Avenue from 26th Street to 35th Street: 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 35th Street from Michigan Avenue to Indiana Avenue: 7 a.m. 4 p.m.
- Indiana Avenue from 35th Street to 31st Street: 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 31st Street from Indiana Avenue to Michigan Avenue: 7 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
- Michigan Avenue from 31st Street to Roosevelt Road: 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Roosevelt Road from Michigan Avenue to Columbus Drive: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Columbus Drive from Roosevelt Road: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Vehicles that are parked along the closed streets will be ticketed and towed. Information about towed vehicles can be found at (312)744-4444.
Organizers encourage all participants and spectators to use public transportation race weekend.
For those who opt to drive, Millennium Garages are the closest parking options to Grant Park.
Here's more information to keep in mind as race the city heads into the race:
2022 Chicago Marathon Course
Known for its flat and fast course, the inaugural race will start and end in Grant Park, taking runners on a grand tour of the city in between their journey.
Along the 26.2-mile trek, runners will be guided across 29 neighborhoods, dozens of historic landmarks and six Chicago River bridges.
Organizers anticipate that the route will be treaded by as many as 40,000 runners, and plenty of supporters are expected to be scattered along the course, too.
All marathon participants are expected to complete the distance in at least six hours and 30 minutes, which means runners will have to tread a 15-minute — or faster — pace per mile.
Getting Around With Public Transportation
Take public transportation and load up that Ventra card -- the payment system that is used by both the Metra rail and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) buses and trains.
You can buy a card at O’Hare International Airport when getting into town, or download it as an app.
Now that you know Ventra is not the size of your drink order...you’re ready to figure out how and where you need to go to watch runners.
Metra is providing additional service on four lines from various suburbs.
A note on cost: Prices for the CTA and Metra are the lowest they've been in years. There is still a $5 day pass on CTA, and a $7 day pass for Metra.
If you have other events on Saturday -- like the Abbott 5k race -- you can buy a $10 weekend pass on the system.
Using Ride Share
Divvy bikes are a good option, too. With the Lyft app, you can find each station and see the number of open bike docks.
For ride shares this year, race organizers are trying to cut down on ride share chaos with official drop points for runners coming into Grant Park around 7 a.m.
For spectators using ride share, tell your driver to stay west of State street downtown.
There’s an X factor here on Sunday evening that I need to mention -- or perhaps I should say, ‘H’ factor: Harry Styles is playing the United Center Sunday evening, which will bring even more more people down to the West Loop and the Near West Side for dinner and drinks in the afternoon and evening.
The road closures will be picked up by then -- except for the streets in Grant Park -- so it will be normally congested. You'll be smart to plan for extra travel time Sunday night just to be sure you are stylin’ (and not stressin').
Streaming
NBC 5 Chicago, Telemundo Chicago and TeleXitos will offer complete live TV coverage and live streaming of the marathon in both English and Spanish.
The live television broadcasts will air from 7 to 11 a.m., and the live stream will be available at nbcchicago.com and telemundochicago.com, on the NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago apps, and on the stations’ Roku and Apple TV channels from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
How to Find a Chicago Marathon Runner
The marathon has its own mobile application that includes live race-day features, including a way to track runners along their journey.
Runners and fans can download the app here for iPhone and here for Android, or by searching "Bank of America Chicago Marathon" in the Apple and Google Play stores.
To add registered participants to their tracking list, users can search their name and add them to their favorites. Users can track up to 20 runners through the app, which also includes an interactive course map, a schedule of events and race photos.
Runner tracking will also be available on the marathon's website race day, allowing spectators to view the race leaderboard, and follow friends and family by getting real-time updates and splits.