By Gus Saltonstall
The New York City Marathon will take place Sunday, and that means there will be dozens of street closures on the Upper West Side.
Marathon Sunday is a day of athletic achievement, but it is also a day not to travel more than you need to, especially if you’re trying to get across town.
The race begins at 8 a.m. with the wheelchair division, and there are lots of road closures across the five boroughs to make sure the runners have a smooth route through the city.
Since the marathon ends in Central Park, the Upper West Side is also where the “Family Reunion” areas are set up, which help runners find their loved ones after the race is over. This means our neighborhood has a few more street closures than most.
Here are the UWS street closures to know about, including in Central Park. The street closures are estimated to begin between 12 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, and last until around 9 p.m. on Sunday night, but both are at the discretion of the New York City Police Department.
- Central Park West from Columbus Circle to 77th Street
- Broadway from 59th to 77th streets
- Columbus from 59th to 77th streets
- Central Park South
- Central Park East Drive
- Central Park West Drive
- Central Park Center Drive
- 65th Street Transverse
- 79th Street Transverse
- 96th Street Transverse
- West 59th Street between 5th Avenue and Columbus Circle/8th Avenue/Central Park West
- Columbus Circle between West 59th Street and Central Park Driveway
- Central Park Driveway/8th Avenue Approach to West Drive
- West Drive between 8th Avenue Approach and 67th Street Approach to West Drive
- West 67th Street Approach to West Drive
- West 77th Street Approach to West Drive
- West 81st Street Approach to West Drive
- West 85th Street Approach to West Drive
Family Reunion Closures
- Central Park West between Columbus Circle and West 76th Street
- West 61st Street between Central Park West and Broadway
- West 62nd Street between Central Park West and Broadway
- West 63rd Street between Central Park West and Broadway
- West 64th Street between Central Park West and Broadway
- West 65th Street between Central Park West and Broadway
- West 66th Street between Central Park West and Broadway
- West 67th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
- West 68th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
- West 69th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
- West 70th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
- West 71st Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
- West 72nd Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
- West 73rd Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
- West 74th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
- Columbus Avenue between West 74th Street and Broadway
- Broadway between West 66th Street and Columbus Circle
There are also parking restrictions to know about on the Upper West Side that begin on Saturday, and last through Sunday.
- Central Park West – 60th to 66th streets: No parking from Saturday to Sunday
- Central Park West – 74th to 96th streets: No parking from Saturday to Sunday
- Central Park West to Broadway – 61st to 77th streets: No parking from Saturday to Sunday
You can check out the full list of street closures related to the New York City Marathon both at the Weekend Traffic Advisory, HERE, and at the dedicated event page, HERE.
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All the street closures for a race that the city loses money on would be better served to move to Albany that is completley empty on the weekends.
Since when does the city only have events if they make money? Fortunately NY is a community, not a business!
“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”
Wrong – the marathon is one of the best days of the year AND brings in a ton of money for the city (estimated at ~$700mm)
That figure kinda made up and the NYRR club has not paid the city since 2023 1 million loss tolls and about that for security. Plus massive cleanup that the taxpayers are on the hook for. 700 million would not even cover a tenth of the immigrant cost for the city. Not to mention the inconvenience of people that actually live here.
what’s the marathon got to do with immigrants?
Yes of course its purely an estimate but with thousands of people traveling into the city it is clearly good economically for the city & the suggestion to move this to Albany is nonsensical.
Correct – all you have to do is walk around the UWS and see the bars and restaurants packed with people to know that it has a positive impact on our local businesses. I don’t know the exact impact on the city economics, but it has to be a positive for business owners.
I bet you’re a real treat to be around
Nicer than 90 percent of the rich folks in my building.
You and John should maybe move to Albany. I hear it’s pretty quiet.
It seems like every year more and more streets are closed. Same deal with the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Why?
More people = larger space to contain and control crowds
They are scared of something. Crowd control? Terrorists? ICE deciding to kidnap people watching the marathon? Protests? It’s been like this since 9-11.
Replying to John: With due respect to Albany, it just does not have the draw of NYC, whose marathon is the largest in the world. In 2025 only 2-3% were accepted through a lottery system which has 3 pools, – the NYC metro area, national applicants, and international applicants. Each year nearly 2 million spectators line the course over all five boroughs. It is broadcast live by WABC TV and ESPN. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Marathon
I’m not an economist, but I think, with a reasonable degree of certainty, that the marathon is a huge plus for the City’s economy. Many of those 2 million people will get hungry. Some will want to buy merchandise. And the free national and international TV coverage can’t be bad for tourism.
Do we need to leave a nasty comment for people expressing their opinion? To the person suggesting Albany, many people come from overseas, new york is a direct flight. And yes the event is very good for the city, even if a bit inconvenient for the New Yorkers who are not hooked to tuning. The combination of Halloween and the marathon makes New York a really fun place to walk and look. Have fun all of you.
what does it mean to be “hooked to tuning?”
All I know is that I see a LOT of sexy legs on marathon weekend.
Too many anti American tourists in town. Which makes for a real nice time for actual residents.
Document this claim.
Um, I think the really anti-American folks aren’t coming to the US these days. Like the huge drop in Canadian tourism since Trump began his capricious tariff policy, and the Europeans who are afraid they will get randomly detained by ICE.
Sorry to hear that. I haven’t noticed it. What kinds of things are you seeing/hearing?
I cheered at the 5K in Central Park this morning and will be cheering at the marathon tomorrow. There are so many runners from all over the world who are excited to be in NYC right now. Let’s show them why this is the best race in the best city!
Different things can be true at the same time.
The Marathon is an amazing event and attracts people from all over.
The Marathon does generate important income for NYC.
At the same time, there are businesses and stores that suffer due to street closures.
This is a fact.
Also as the marathon has gotten bigger and bigger, there are more street closures.
That also means no bus service.
For example today (Marathon Day) at 66th Street and Broadway (uptown) at about 1pm there were 8 people (1 with a walker and 1 with a cane) waiting for a bus – and they had no idea that buses would not passing there. (Broadway was closed to traffic below 65th)
Seems like CB 7 should be tasked with ensuring signage at bus stops?