Watch out for runners: Las Vegas Marathon to take over parts of valley

About 6,000 runners are expected to take to Charleston Boulevard between Red Rock Canyon and downtown Las Vegas on Sunday for the new Las Vegas Marathon.

To accommodate participants in the newly minted marathon, the major east-west roadway will be closed to traffic for a number of hours.

On Las Vegas Marathon’s inaugural race day, roads will begin to close at 4 a.m. Sunday ahead of the planned 6 a.m. race start time. Runners will have three options: the full 26.2-mile marathon, the 13.1-mile half-marathon and the 7.02-mile run. All three begin at 6 a.m.

As runners make their way down Charleston and other roads in downtown Las Vegas, the street will reopen to vehicular traffic on a rolling basis. The goal is to have Charleston and other affected roads reopened by 12:33 p.m. Sunday.

Reopening schedule

Road re-openings will be gradual. All Charleston closures are for eastbound traffic only. Westbound Charleston will remain open, but some turns will be limited along the route.

— Charleston at Desert Foothills Drive is scheduled to reopen at 8 a.m.

— Charleston at Pavilion Center Drive is scheduled to reopen at 8:30 a.m. At this time Hughes Parkway West and Pavilion Center Drive near Charleston will also reopen to traffic.

— Charleston at Town Center Drive will reopen at 8:45 a.m.

— Charleston at Fort Apache Drive will reopen at 9:15 a.m.

— Charleston at Buffalo Drive will reopen at 9:40 a.m.

— Charleston at Rainbow Drive will reopen at 10 a.m.

— Charleston at Decatur will reopen at 1o:45 a.m.

— Charleston at Rancho Drive will reopen at 10:55 a.m.

— Martin Luther King Boulevard northbound between Charleston and Grand Central Parkway will reopen at 11:10 a.m.

— Bonneville Avenue westbound between Grand Central Parkway and Martin Luther King will reopen at 11:15 a.m.

— Grand Central Parkway northbound between Bonneville and Main Street will reopen at 11:30 a.m.

— Main Street northbound between St. Louis Avenue and Ogden Avenue will reopen at 11:55 a.m.

— Las Vegas Boulevard southbound between St. Louis and Bridger will reopen at 12:15 p.m.

— Bridger Avenue in both directions between 4th Street and Maryland Parkway will reopen at 12:33 p.m.

— Ogden Avenue in both directions between Casino Center Boulevard and 4th Street will reopen at 1 p.m.

Vital access to remain

Joe Jurisic, race director for Brooksee, a Salt Lake City-based urban race production company, said all businesses and residents will still have access to their properties along the route.

“UMC will still remain open from those westbound lanes,” Jurisic said Friday. “The way we have the course setup, whether it’s a resident, business or apartment complex, everybody will still have access, whether you’re on the north side of Charleston or the south side of Charleston. The way that the traffic control pattern is set up is we have slip lanes set in place. We have the detours set up to make sure everybody can still mobilize if needed.”

Bus route effects

On Sunday those who ride the Regional Transportation Commission’s bus service along the route will be disrupted between 3 a.m. and 1 p.m., the agency announced last week.

The following routes will be affected near the marathon’s route: 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 109, 113, 119, 120, 121, 206, 207, 208, 214, 215-westbound, 401, Boulder Highway Express, Centennial Express, Downtown/Veteran Medical Center Express, Deuce on the Strip and the Sahara Express. For full details, riders may check rtcsnv.com/detours during race day.

“The development of this event has been an extended process. In January it will mark three years since we started and RTC has been part of the conversation from the beginning,” Jurisic said. “Obviously, more seriously part of the conversation in the last year when we got this route down. We wanted to make sure local transit remains active, but also that folks are informed and they can plan accordingly, so that they can still get to where they need to go.”

Crews have been installing barriers for the race over the last week along Charleston and will continue into downtown through the weekend.

Scenic course

Having the race include such a variety of sights and areas from Red Rock Canyon, through Downtown Summerlin and into downtown Las Vegas was a goal of the organizers, to show what the city has to offer. The stretch is also all downhill, so it will make the race a fast-paced event.

“The goal was really highlighting the different touchpoints of our city,” Jurisic said. “I recognize a lot of the attention goes just toward the Strip or even the downtown corridor, but some people don’t know about the Red Rock scenic loop and Downtown Summerlin and being able to run through Symphony Park and the Arts District. These are all things that we wanted to highlight, really as landmarks of our city, that may go unrecognized by tourists (who) maybe don’t know of the area that well.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X. Send questions and comments to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.