The 24th annual Los Angeles Marathon will take place on Monday May 25th, 2009. In addition to the 26-mile marathon run, a bike tour and a 5K run are also a part of this year’s event. The bike tour starts at 5:00AM, the wheelchair race starts at 7:00 AM, and the Marathon is scheduled to start at 7:08 AM. In addition, the 5K run will start at 8:30 AM. Additional course information is also available at www.lamarathon.com

Beginning Sunday evening May 24th, the area bounded by 3rd Street to the North, 5th Street to the South, Grand Avenue to the East and Flower Street to the west will be closed to prepare for the Marathon staging. On Monday morning, May 25th, the Department of Transportation will begin closing streets and impounding vehicles to prepare for the 5:00 AM Bike Tour start time. Additionally, northbound Figueroa Street from 7th Street to Wilshire Boulevard will begin to close at 5:00 AM to allow for participant gathering. Streets in the downtown area unaffected by the Bike Tour will remain open to vehicular traffic until 7:00 AM. It is the priority of the Department of Transportation to ensure public safety and maintain mobility. Therefore, the Department will make every effort to re-open streets as soon as possible. Due to the size and complexity of the Marathon route, streets will re-open by regions. It is anticipated that the Exposition Park area will be re-opened by 11:00 AM, the Crenshaw area by 12 Noon, the Venice areas by 1:00 PM, the Fairfax area by 2:00 PM, the Wilshire / Westlake areas by 4:00 PM, the majority streets in Downtown by 5:00 PM.

Please note that street closure and re-opening times are approximate.