DC National Marathon on Saturday, March 21

by Blaine Metzgar | March 20, 2009 at 11:24 am

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The Suntrust National Marathon and Half-Marathon will take place tomorrow starting at 7 a.m. in Washington, D.C.

The Marathon starts at 7 a.m. at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium and ends at 1 p.m. at the stadium as well. Runners will make their way along a route that goes through the six of the Capital's eight wards.

The Marathon has a history of causing high traffic for weekenders in the city.

This event has been of great concern to weekend travelers for the past couple of years, because it's held on a Saturday, rather than a Sunday when traffic tends to be lighter and covers a lot of territory in the District.

The road closures for the marathon route affect the District's public transit. The metrorail will open two hours earlier at 5 a.m. to alleviate the transit issues as well as getting runners to the starting point on time for the 7 a.m. races.

The widespread road closings will interfere with most downtown Metrobus routes and MetroAccess service, the transit authority says. Forty-one Metrobus routes in the District will be detoured. Metro suggests that passengers build in extra time for morning trips or, if possible, postpone them till midafternoon.

The road closures, detours, and metro schedules are expected to take a huge toll on mass transit in Washington, D.C.