Brooklyn Braces as 25,000 Runners Snarl Streets in Sunday Half Marathon

Brooklyn’s Sunday wake-up call is coming with sirens, barricades and a whole lot of lycra. Starting at 7 a.m., rolling street closures will move across the borough as the NYCRUNS Brooklyn Experience Half Marathon takes over city streets. The NYPD will decide when and where to close intersections as the race progresses, so blocks may shut down or reopen with little warning while runners, volunteers and spectators stream from North Brooklyn to Prospect Park. Drivers and riders should be ready for delays across several neighborhoods.

The advisory, originally posted by NotifyNYC and retweeted by NYPD News, warned of "multiple rolling street closures across Brooklyn" beginning at 7:00 a.m. It also included a multilingual and ASL accessibility link for people who need it. The message stresses that closures will be enforced "at the discretion of the NYPD," meaning the timing and exact intersections could shift throughout the morning as race operations move along.

Where closures will hit

The course starts near McCarren Park in North Brooklyn, then hugs the East River under the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges before heading inland along Fulton Street and Flatbush Avenue. From there, runners swing past Grand Army Plaza and finish inside Prospect Park. The official course map and start and finish plans from NYCRUNS highlight the streets most likely to see temporary shutdowns as well as the post-race festival zones. Expect off-and-on closures along Fulton Street, Flatbush Avenue, Atlantic Avenue and Court Street as the race field rolls through downtown Brooklyn.

What this means for travel

NYCRUNS says the 2026 Brooklyn Experience will feature an event-record crowd, with more than 25,000 runners expected, so race-day slowdowns could stretch a bit longer than in previous years. Bus riders should prepare for detours, drivers along the course should expect limited curbside parking, and subway riders can probably count on more crowded trains than usual. For the latest transit notes, riders and residents are advised to check MTA updates along with the event’s race page before heading out.

Quick tips

If you have early appointments, deliveries or tradespeople scheduled for Sunday morning, it is safer to build in extra travel time or shift things later to avoid the heaviest race window between 7 a.m. and late morning, when most of the field will be on the course. Residents with questions about specific access or block-by-block impacts on race day can keep an eye on NotifyNYC and NYPD updates, or reach out to NYCRUNS through the event page for more details.