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Road Closures: 2016 Great Race Poised To Cause Traffic Headaches

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Around 14,000 people will take to the streets this year, between the 5K walk and run and the Great Race 10K.

Things could get a bit messy once the streets start closing.

The 39th annual Richard S. Caliguiri City of Pittsburgh Great Race begins in Frick Park in Squirrel Hill on Forbes Avenue and picking up on Fifth Avenue in Oakland before hitting the Boulevard of the Allies and finishing at Point State Park downtown.

Click here to see a Course Map

The fences are up and parking restriction signs are posted. If you plan on taking a shuttle, you need to be downtown at 6 a.m.

"We have about 14,000 people most of which ride our shuttles from the finish line near the point to the start lines so that alone will cause a little traffic," explained race director Brian Katze.

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The shuttles will run from 6:15 to 7:15 a.m. for the 5K and from 7:15 to 8:45 a.m. for the Great Race. The downtown portion of the race route closes at 6:30 to traffic.

Streets on the outlying areas of the race will be closed starting at 6:30 a.m., and remain closed until 11 at the latest.

Closed Roads Breakdown:

  • Start Line on Beechwood Blvd. to Forbes and Morewood Aves. (Closed 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.)
  • Forbes and Morewood to Fifth Ave and Bigelow Blvd. (Closed 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.)
  • Fifth Ave and Bigelow Blvd. to Fifth Ave & the newly constructed Oakland ramp to Blvd. of the Allies (Closed 6:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.)
  • Fifth Ave & the Oakland slip ramp to Blvd. of the Allies to Liberty Ave. (Closed 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.)

"We added pacers in the 5K which was a big hit in the 10K last year to help people line themselves up at the start line to reach their goals," Katze said.

Around 90 percent of the runners live within an hour's distance from the city, but the race director says they'll get folks from over 40 states. Two teams from Heidelberg University in Germany will be running this year.

"It's something that's become more popular. It's not seen just as an exercise anymore. People run to collect medals and t-shirts and running in pittsburgh in general has seen an increase in just the number of races we have here," Katze said.

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