Pittsburgh Great Race road closures start this weekend

Several roads are expected to be closed this weekend as thousands of runners and walkers descend on Pittsburgh to participate in the Richard S. Caliguiri City of Pittsburgh Great Race.

More than 10,000 people are expected to participate in the annual tradition spread across a weekend’s worth of footraces, according to P3R, which produces the event.

Closures will start at 7 p.m. Friday on Liberty Avenue between Commonwealth Place and Stanwix Street for construction of the finish line area. That area will remain closed through the weekend.

Various roads Downtown will be closed starting at 9 a.m. Saturday for the Dollar Bank Junior Great Race. Those roads will reopen at 11:30 a.m. The 1-mile loop course will start on Penn Avenue, turn around on the Clemente Bridge and move on Fort Duquesne Boulevard to the finish line. A course map is available here.

Road closures around the main event will start at 5:30 a.m. Sunday near Stanwix Street. An hour later, closures along the course — in Downtown, Uptown, Oakland and Squirrel Hill — will start and remain in place until 11 a.m.

A map of the route, for both the 5K and 10K races, is available here, along with approximate times for road closures.

The 5K Run & Walk starts at 8 a.m. Sunday at Fifth Avenue and Atwood Street in Oakland. The 10K Race starts at 9:30 a.m. at Beechwood Boulevard near Frick Park.

The Great Race — established as a 10K race, 6.2 miles, by the late Mayor Richard S. Caliguiri — has attracted nearly a half-million participants. Over the years, it has grown to include a 5K run/walk, running clinic, two-day expo and children’s race.

Participants can pick up their race packets in Point State Park from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Wyndham Grant Pittsburgh Downtown at 600 Commonwealth Place.

It is an annual tradition that’s been running since 1977.