Chicago Marathon street closings, plus transit agencies to add service

Motorists will have to contend with more road closures ahead of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday.

Meanwhile, transit agencies promise increased service for spectators to get downtown in time for the marathon, which begins at 7:20 a.m. with the men's wheelchair division.

Jackson Drive, between Columbus and DuSable Lake Shore drives, will close at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The street is expected to reopen Monday morning.

Twelve more street closures are planned around Grant Park — the starting and finishing points of the marathon — before the race gets underway on Sunday.

Sections of Columbus Drive will close beginning Thursday at Roosevelt Road, north to Ida B. Wells Drive. The closure will extend to Monroe Street on Friday morning and to Randolph Street on Saturday morning.

For the Chicago 5K, there are 12 planned street closures between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Saturday.

On marathon day, there are 41 more planned road closures. A marathon organizer said additional roads may close if officials or police deem it necessary on Sunday.

Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain will be closed to the general public between 2 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday. Access to Butler Field is closed until Oct. 15.

Marathon spectators may access Grant Park after 9:30 a.m. Sunday.

The CTA will increase service on the Red, Green, Blue, Brown and Orange lines along with service starting at 5:30 a.m. Over 30 bus routes will be affected, the CTA said.

Metra plans to increase service on select lines into the city early Sunday morning and out of the city in the afternoon. The expanded service will be on the Milwaukee District North, Union Pacific Northwest and Union Pacific West lines.

South Shore Line will have an extra early-morning westbound and midafternoon eastbound train to accommodate marathon travelers. On Friday and Saturday, the line will have stops at McCormick Place for attendees of the Abbott Health & Fitness Expo and runner packet pickup.